NH Financial names new chief

Yim Jong-ryong Nominee for NH Financial Group chairman

By Kim Jae-kyoung

Yim Jong-ryong, a former minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, was selected as a nominee to lead NH Nonghyup Financial Group.

Yim, who will succeed former chairman Shin Dong-kyu, will be officially confirmed as the new chairman at a shareholder’s meeting, Friday.

The group said that the 54-year-old former bureaucrat was chosen because of his expertise and experience in finance and the economy. He earlier played a role in Nonghyup’s separation of its finance and economic sectors.

“Yim is an ideal person to come up with a blue print for NH Financial, given his rich experience and knowledge in finance,” a NH official said.

A native of Boseong, South Jeolla Province, Yim graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in economics. He started his career as a bureaucrat in 1980 and served as vice finance minister before moving to become a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Yim’s biggest task is to put the financial group on track as it has yet to be in the right direction after being separated from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nonghyup) last year.

Nonghyup decided to spin off its financial sector and launched the Nonghyup Financial Group after 51 years and instead focus on its agricultural product distributing business. Unlike other financial groups, all of the financial group’s stakes belong to Nonghyup.

Nonghyup has been under fire for its ill governance structure after former chairman Shin abruptly offered to resign on May 15, nearly one year before his term ends.

“I will respect Nonghyup’s right as the biggest shareholder if there is a difference over management issue,” Yim told a local media after the nomination.

“My role is to dispel concerns associated with governance structure and stabilize the financial group.”