By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
KB Financial Group replaced three outside directors in a shareholders' meeting at the headquarters of Kookmin Bank in Seoul, Friday, joining in the industry-wide move to overhaul their board rooms.
Former Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Lee Kyung-jae, EZ Digital CEO Lee Young-nam and Sookmyung Women's University Professor Koh Seung-hee were appointed as new outside directors of the group. Jacques Kemp, former ING Asia-Pacific CEO, was reappointed as an outside director.
Among them, Lee Kyung-jae was appointed as chairman of the board of directors. Lee had served several key economic posts, such as CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea, chief executive of Korea Financial Telecommunication & Clearings Institute and an auditor at the Bank of Korea.
``I feel honored to be appointed a board chairman of KB. I will help KB to retain its vitality again,'' Lee said.
Hana Financial Group also appointed Kim Kack-young, former head of the prosecutors' office, as new chairman of the board of directors at the board meeting of directors at the headquarters of the group in Seoul, Friday.
The Korea University graduate is running a law firm after retiring from the office, and has served Hana as an outside director since 2009.
``I will do my best to help Hana to protect the values of shareholders and investors,'' Kim said.
He also said that he has no problem to lead the board of the financial group though his background is more in law, rather than finance.
``I know that financial firms require a high-level of special knowledge. I have experience as an outside director in a securities company and Hana Financial Group, so I am sure that I can do my job well.''
The appointments by KB and Hana are in line with the government-initiated corporate governance reform drive of separating the board of directors from management.
Meanwhile, the board of Woori Financial Group reappointed Lee Pal-seung, CEO and chairman of Woori Financial Group, as chairman of its board of directors on Thursday to be prepared for the upcoming privatization of the state-run group.
Shinhan Financial Group was the first to make an outside director head of its boardroom. In Wednesday's shareholders' meeting, the company appointed Chun Sung-bin, a professor of business management at Sogang University, as chairwoman of the board of directors.
Earlier this year, the government and the association of banks together made a guideline on bank's corporate governance structure that encourages outside directors to take the chairman's position.
It is intended to help outside directors to check and balance the management's power in banks. Similar guidelines are being made for other financial firms such as insurance and savings banks.