Richard Hill, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank Korea, obtained the Korean name “Koo Je-il” last week.

Industrial Bank of Korea chief executive Cho Jun-hee suggested the name after Standard Chartered Bank’s former name “Jeil,” which means “first,” during a dinner meeting of the chiefs of 14 banks on May 29.

“Koo” is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese character for “hill.”

Cho presented the Korean name to Hill in appreciation of the British CEO’s constant efforts to understand the Korean culture and learn the language, which distinguished him from other foreign CEOs here.

“Hill has been learning Korean from a private tutor for the fourth year, and it is delightful to speak with him because his Korean gets better every time I meet him,” Cho said.

The new name, which Hill gratefully accepted, honors the heritage of Korea First (Jeil) Bank, founded in 1929 as Chosun Savings Bank.

“The name Jeil covers nearly 100 years of Korea’s modern history,” Cho said.

“Since Standard Chartered Bank dropped ‘first’ from its name, it would be nice to honor the history by putting ‘Jeil’ in the CEO’s Korean name.”

Standard Chartered Bank acquired Korea First Bank in April 2005 and changed its name to SC First Bank in September of the same year. It then renamed itself Standard Chartered Bank Korea in January this year to emphasize the corporate image of its British parent group and strengthen brand unity.

Korea had been the only among more than 70 countries of the London-based financial group’s operation where a local name was embedded in the official name.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)