Hana Financial Group on the 26th finalized the candidate pools for the next chief executives of six major affiliates, including Hana Bank and Hana Securities. With the terms of 13 affiliate heads expiring at the end of this year, attention is focused on whether incumbent CEOs will be reappointed and how wide the reshuffle will be.
The group said it convened its group executive nomination committee that day and narrowed the CEO candidate pools to three or fewer each for six affiliates — Hana Bank, Hana Securities, Hana Card, Hana Capital, Hana Life and Hana Savings Bank. The move comes about a month after the group began its management succession process on Sept. 30.
The group nomination committee plans to conduct in-depth interviews including presentations, along with evaluations and voting, before selecting one final candidate for each affiliate in early December and recommending them to each company's nomination committee. For the seven remaining affiliates, including Hana Insurance and Hana Asset Trust, the group plans to recommend candidates to its affiliate management committee between late November and early December and to decide on final nominees during December.
A total of 13 Hana Financial affiliate heads see their terms expire at the end of this year. Attention centers on whether Hana Bank CEO Lee Ho-seong, Hana Securities CEO Kang Sung-mook, Hana Card CEO Sung Young-soo and Hana Life Insurance CEO Nam Gung-won will be reappointed, and on the scope of any replacements.
The role of Hana Bank's own nomination committee has also expanded in this round. In addition to its existing authority to recommend candidates for bank CEO, the committee has been given the power this year to offer its views on the shortlist drawn up by the group nomination committee. The chair of the bank's nomination committee will also attend the final candidate evaluation to present those views.
Separately, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin instructed deputy governors at a meeting that morning to verify whether the succession processes were conducted fairly and transparently once the selection of financial holding company affiliate CEOs is complete. The aim is to examine whether the standards and procedures set in advance were followed, from the selection of candidate pools through vetting and evaluation.
Financial authorities have long pointed to the concentration of personnel authority in the hands of financial holding company chairmen and the weak checks provided by subsidiary boards. Lee is set to meet with the board chairs of financial holding companies on the 28th to call for greater transparency in CEO selection procedures, among other measures.