Shinhan Financial Group Co.’s new chairman vowed Wednesday to make all-out efforts to restore its tainted image and regain shareholder trust following last year’s high-profile management feud.
Han Dong-woo was inaugurated as the chairman of Shinan Financial, replacing Ryoo Shee-yul, who had served as the acting chief of the country’s third-largest banking group by assets since October.
“I will use every means to recover Shinhan Financial’s previous image and regain shareholders’ trust,” incoming chairman Han Dong-woo said in a meeting of shareholders.
Han Dong-woo
Han also said he will work hard toward revamping the group’s much-criticized governance structure in order to “make Shinhan Financial a financial group that is one notch more desirable.”
Ra Eung-chan stepped down as the group’s chairman in October for conducting illegal financial transactions and bringing forth a management power struggle that marred Shinhan Financial’s reputation as one of the country’s few efficient financial groups.
Ra’s management conflict with Shin Sang-hoon, the group’s former president, led to prosecutors’ investigation on flagship bank unit Shinhan Bank and the financial regulator’s rule tightening over financial groups’ top positions and boards of directors.
Shinhan Bank appointed Suh Jin-won as its new chief executive officer in late December after former chief Lee Baek-soon resigned also in connection with the management feud. (Yonhap News)