BS chairman to resign

By Kim Tae-jong

BS Financial Group CEO Lee Jang-ho offered to resign, Monday, under alleged pressure from the financial authorities to step down voluntarily. Lee’s term was officially scheduled to end in March next year.

The abrupt offer to go stirred controversy because many believe the move is in line with continuing efforts by the government to replace the CEOs of financial groups.

The financial authorities have been under fire for urging Lee to step down from his post on grounds that he failed to report the fact that he concurrently held other posts in the group. Initially, Lee expressed willingness to continue his term.

When announcing his decision, he said his successor should be an insider from the group to carry out the group’s long-term development plan.

Under the new government, many CEOs of financial groups have quit their jobs before their terms’ expiry such as Kim Seung-yu of Hana Financial Group, Kang Man-soo of the state-controlled KDB Financial, Lee Pal-seung of Woori Financial, Jun Kwang-woo of the National Pension Fund and Kim Bong-soo of the Korea Exchange. KB Financial Group chairman Euh Yoon-dae gave up on seeking a second term.

“The Park Geun-hye administration is much worse than the Lee Myung-bak administration in terms of its ambition to control the financial sector through appointing former bureaucrats as CEOs of financial groups,” the Korean Financial Industry Union said in a statement, following the resignation of BS Financial Group CEO Lee. “President Park should keep her words to root out ‘parachute appointments.’”