NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS) is transitioning to a co-CEO system and pursuing full-scale expansion. The company's strategy is to leverage the expertise of the co-CEO structure to expand its integrated management account (IMA) and artificial intelligence transformation (AX) businesses, boosting competitiveness.
NH Investment & Securities held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting Friday to formally appoint Shin Jae-wook and Bae Kwang-soo as co-CEOs, officially launching the new management system. Shin will oversee investment banking (IB), asset management operations, institutional sales, and company-wide management divisions. Bae will be in charge of wealth management (WM), digital channels, and the research division. Their term runs one year and nine months until March 1, 2028. In their inaugural address, Shin and Bae presented five core management directions, including strengthening synergy across businesses and improving capital efficiency. "We will make authority and decision-making clearer and faster, but bear final performance and responsibility together," they said.
The plan is to build an integrated deal pipeline encompassing sourcing, productization, and sales, and to introduce a "joint evaluation system" to enhance synergy across business divisions. "We will boldly allocate capital to businesses with high risk-adjusted returns, while coolly reviewing areas with low efficiency," Shin and Bae said. They emphasized that they would expand the scope of AI use to customer research, product supply, deal review, and risk monitoring to enhance execution capabilities, while actively pursuing strengthened internal controls and improved shareholder value.
Shin has been highly regarded for successfully completing the Yeouido Parc One project financing (PF). He participated in the entire process from business structuring to financing and risk management, completing a PF of approximately 2.1 trillion won — the largest in the history of domestic commercial real estate development. Bae applied his IB experience to WM, increasing customer assets to 535 trillion won in the first quarter of this year, about one year and six months after taking charge of the WM division.
At the shareholders' meeting, one shareholder expressed support, saying, "Shin Jae-wook and Bae Kwang-soo have rich capital market experience, and I judge that they have contributed to the company's development based on their outstanding execution capabilities and leadership." On the other hand, concerns were also raised about equity issues across business divisions and the "silo phenomenon," in which departments within an organization wall themselves off and pursue only their own interests. Regarding this, Park Sun-hak, head of the management strategy division, said, "We have clarified the authority and duties of each co-CEO so that no 'gray zone' (with unclear interpretation) can arise under the accountability structure." He added, "The two CEOs serve as co-chairs of the strategic resource allocation committee."
Yoon Byung-woon, who led NH Investment & Securities for two years, ended his term with the regular shareholders' meeting. He reportedly did not hold a separate retirement ceremony at his own request. After the shareholders' meeting, Yoon met with The Seoul Economic Daily and said with a smile, "It's not bad to 'fade out' when NH Investment & Securities is posting historically good results." He added, "I believe my excellent successor CEOs will do even better in further leveling up the company."
