Woori Financial head aims to leap into asset management

Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong

Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong aims for the institution to become a specialized asset management bank in 2024, a goal he expressed during a meeting with employees focused on high-net-worth clients.

During the meeting with staff at the TCE Signature Center in Seoul’s Seocho-dong on Wednesday, Yim held discussions with employees from specialized asset management branches.

This marked Yim’s first visit to a Woori Bank branch since assuming office in March 2023. The TCE Signature Center, has thrived since it opened in January 2022, and topped 1 trillion won ($746 million) in deposit balances in November 2023.

Woori Bank is set to open a new specialized asset management branch in Busan’s Haeundae Marine City in February 2024, adding to its existing five specialized branches, and aims to expand the number of asset management-focused branches to 10 by 2026.

Yim emphasized the bank’s objective to become a dedicated asset management bank that customers trust.

In response to market conditions and potential declines in yield, Yim urged the importance of communicating with customers and building trust, emphasizing that customers could be unforgiving if the bank is not attentive and does not manage the assets carefully. “Asset management is rooted in the very important value of trust is at the forefront of preserving trust in the bank,” he said.

Acknowledging the recent losses associated with Hong Kong H-Index Linked Securities (ELS), Yim highlighted the importance of learning from such incidents. Woori Bank had sold ELS amounting to 8.2 trillion won between 2021 and 2022, with the portion related to the Hong Kong H-Index being relatively small at 600 billion won. Following the Derivative-Linked Fund (DLF) incident in 2019, Woori Bank formed the ‘Non-Deposit Products Committee,’ which limited the bank’s exposure to Hong Kong H-Index related products to 5 percent.