Woori Financial to hold first succession program day at board meeting

Woori Financial Group CI

Woori Financial Group will introduce a succession program to identify and manage potential chairman candidates several years in advance, a move that comes in line with recent regulatory guidelines to strengthen internal controls.

According to industry sources on Wednesday, Woori Financial will hold its inaugural meeting for the program on Thursday, where the board will assess the capabilities of its candidate pool.

The pool includes chief executive officers from the group’s four major units—Woori Bank, Woori Card Co., Woori Financial Capital Co., and Woori Investment Securities Co.

The board is expected to review both current performance and leadership potential.

The board meeting for the succession program will become an annual event. If a subsidiary CEO changes midterm, the chairman candidate pool will be updated accordingly.

This long-term succession planning aims to make the chairman selection process more transparent. At the end of last year, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) issued best-practice guidelines for governance at banks and holding companies, requiring that succession planning begin at least three months before a chairman’s term expires.

While Woori Financial has previously formed recommendation committees for group leadership, this is the first time it is implementing a structured, long-term management system for potential candidates.

The program also addresses credibility concerns following a recent scandal involving fraudulent loans linked to a former chairman‘s relatives.

Currently, only KB Financial Group manages its chairman candidate pool this far in advance. As regulators call for stronger internal controls at holding companies, other financial groups are expected to introduce similar long-term succession programs.

KB Financial Group Inc. and KB Kookmin Bank submitted accountability structures to the FSS Wednesday, establishing a board subcommittee for internal controls to improve group-level oversight.

Nonghyup Financial Group Inc. and Nonghyup Bank also submitted their structures, with Hana Financial Group set to submit them on Thursday.

Shinhan Bank submitted similar documents to the FSS at the end of September, and Hana Bank and Woori Bank earlier this month.

The accountability structure document assigns specific responsibilities to executives at financial institutions, ensuring clear accountability if an incident occurs due to internal control failures.