Woori Financial picks new CEO for banking unit

SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) -- Woori Financial Group, a major South Korean banking group, said Tuesday that it has selected Kwon Kwang-seok, head of the credit and insurance unit at the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, as the new CEO for its flagship banking unit.

Kwon is set to begin a two-year term as Woori Bank's CEO if approved at the Woori Bank general shareholders' meeting in March.

Kwon joined Woori Bank in 1988 and rose up the corporate ladder over the past three decades at Woori Financial Group before joining the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives in 2018.

Woori Bank, South Korea's fourth-largest lender by assets, is a flagship unit of Woori Financial.

The South Korean government had previously owned a controlling 51 percent stake in Woori Bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., a legacy of the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

Currently, Woori Bank is still 17.4 percent owned by the South Korean government. Korea Deposit Insurance has said it plans to sell its entire stake in Woori Bank by 2022.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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