Woori Financial taps CEO nominees for insurers

Woori Financial Group on Friday nominated the chief executive officer candidates for its new insurance subsidiaries, accelerating the push to diversify its non-banking portfolio.

Woori Financial, one of the top four financial service providers here, is to acquire Tongyang Life Insurance and ABL Life Insurance. With Financial Services Commission approval to incorporate the two insurers as subsidiaries secured earlier in May, the finance group plans to wrap up the acquisitions swiftly.

Woori Financial held a CEO candidate recommendation committee on Friday and nominated Sung Dae-kyu, 58, the head of the insurance underwriting division, as the candidate for CEO of Tongyang Life Insurance, and Kwak Hee-pil, 59, the former CEO of Shinhan Financial Plus, as the CEO of ABL Life Insurance.

The two will be officially appointed at a shareholders' meeting slated to take place in July.

"The goal is to have Tongyang Life Insurance settle down as Woori Financial’s key insurer based on its solid capital management,” Sung said. “I will work to have the insurer contribute to the group’s diverse portfolio."

“Based on my career and know-how in the insurance sector, I will have ABL Life Insurance successfully settle down at Woori Financial," Kwak said. "I will strive for an inclusive leadership to stabilize the organization and resolve management issues, considering that ABL Life Insurance has been up for sale for a long time since 2016."