Under the leadership of its new chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, KB Financial Group seems determined to regain the public’s trust this year and shed its tarnished image following an internal feud.

The Seoul-based financial group said it planned to move its headquarters this month from Myeong-dong to Yeouido, where its flagship KB Kookmin Bank headquarters is located.

It will be the first time since 2008, when the bank adopted the financial holding company system, that the two entities will be operating in the same building.

“We are planning to move our Myeong-dong headquarters to Yeouido in the middle of this month,” a KB Financial official said.

“Since the holding company and the bank have decided to unify their risk management, data processing and public relations systems, (the geographical merger) is necessary to promote work efficiency.”

The decision to relocate can partly be attributed to group chairman Yoon, who is also serving as KB Kookmin Bank president “until the organization and the management succession processes are stabilized.”

Yoon took office in November last year to fill the leadership vacuum left by former chairman Lim Young-rok and bank president Lee Kun-ho. The two leaders had stepped down after being handed a heavy sanction from financial authorities over the group’s internal feuds and management problems.

The conflict between Lim and Lee, which on the surface seemed to center around a plan to replace the bank’s computing system, was considered to be a result of the yearslong power struggle within the group.

Throughout KB’s seven-year history as a financial holding company, its bank president was generally selected from within the banking industry whereas the group chairman tended to be a former government official.

Yoon, aware of expectations that he will turn the tide, pledged to harmonize the holding group and the bank by all means so that KB can win back its former glory as the nation’s leading banking group.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)