The race for the next chief executive of Sh Suhyup Bank has shaped up as a two-way contest between Lee Hyung-joo, head of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and Shin Hak-ki, the bank's incumbent CEO.
The bank's CEO nomination committee reviewed applications from six candidates on the 9th and cleared all of them for interviews, according to financial industry sources. Three internal candidates applied: Shin and two former Suhyup Bank deputy CEOs, Chung Chul-kyun and Park Yang-soo. The three external candidates are Lee, Lee Hyung-seung, an outside director at BNK Investment & Securities, and Kang Chul-seung, head of the Korea Fisheries Policy Forum.
Financial industry officials see Lee and Shin as the front-runners. Lee is a career bureaucrat who has served as director general of the financial policy bureau at the Financial Services Commission and as a standing commissioner. He can point to his ability to communicate with regulators as the bank pursues a shift to a holding company structure. Shin is credited with expanding the bank's non-banking operations, including the launch of Sh Suhyup Asset Management and a push to acquire Sangsangininvestment&Securities.
The committee will hold interviews on the 21st and decide on a final candidate the following day. It consists of five members: three recommended by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Financial Services Commission and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and two from the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives. At least four votes are needed to appoint a CEO. Shin's term runs through November 17.
