Selecting Woori Financial Group’s new leader faces controversy

Selecting Woori Financial Group’s new leader faces controversy [Photo by Park Hyung-ki]

Executive headhunters have become more involved in the recruitment process for the new leader of Korea’s Woori Financial Group, the country’s fourth largest banking group, which is triggering a controversy as they may be exposed to external influences in coming up with a list of candidates.

Members of the group’s independent executive nominating committee have little to do until they make a short list.

The executive nominating committee held a meeting on Jan. 4 and asked two headhunting companies to select a pool of candidates, according to people familiar with the matter on Sunday.

The two companies are contracted to deliver a list of five candidates each to the committee before a committee meeting due on Wednesday.

In addition to the external candidates, about 20 current Woori Financial executives will be included in the review by the committee. They will fill the positions of the bank’s president and vice president, president of subsidiaries, and vice president of the holding company based on the group’s internal succession program.

The actual role of the committee members will begin with making a short list. They will select 10 candidates from a maximum of 10 external and 20 internal candidates.

The committee will select 10 people and obtain consent from them to verify personal information. The committee made this decision to increase independence in the candidate selection process by blocking intervention from outside and preventing some candidates from leveraging media to increase their influence.

However, as the headhunting firms are left to select candidates at the initial stages, potential candidates may compete behind the scenes to be included in their list.

Some financial authority officials say that Woori Financial Group’s board of directors should play an active role. They argue that major shareholders present their own CEO philosophy and recommend a group of candidates suitable for the list. It is not appropriate to entrust an external company to provide a candidate pool.