KB Financial Group shortlists 3 candidates for chairman

KB Financial Group announced a list of three candidates contending to become the company’s next chairman.

Hur Yin

KB Financial Group announced a list of three candidates contending to become the company’s next chairman.

KB Financial Group Vice Chairmen Hur Yin and Yang Jong-hee, and Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City-based HDBank Kim Byung-ho, were selected as the contenders for the chief position of Korea’s largest financial holding firm by net profit, the company announced on Tuesday.

The candidates have been shortlisted from the previous six, announced on Aug. 8.

The contenders that were excluded from the list include KB Financial Group Vice Chairman Lee Dong-cheol and Park Jeong-rim, co-CEO at KB Securities, and a candidate from outside the company, whose identity was not disclosed in the previous shortlist.

Yang Jong-hee

“I am truly grateful to all the candidates that competed in good faith with respect for one another,” said the financial group’s Chairman Recommendation Committee, made up of board directors, in a statement on Tuesday. “We will do our best to make sure the optimal candidate who is able to drive sustainable growth of the KB Financial Group is selected as the next chairman.”

Hur studied law at Seoul National University and sat as the KB Kookmin Bank CEO from 2017 through 2021.

Kim Byung-ho

Yang studied history at Seoul National University and was the CEO of KB Insurance from 2016 through 2020.

Kim was the CEO of Hana Bank and Vice Chairman at Hana Financial Group before starting his career in Vietnam.

The finalist will be announced on Sept. 8 following an in-depth interview with the candidates, the company said.

Incumbent KB Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said in early August that he will not seek a fourth consecutive term and will bow out after nine years in the role.

His term will terminate on Nov. 20.

Some 8.21 percent of KB is owned by the National Pension Service, its largest shareholder.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]