Transformation of Kookmin Bank

Bank turns itself into Kookmin Financial Holding Co. to create a financial group

Kookmin Bank has successfully turned itself into a financial holding company with shareholders opposed to the change not exceeding 15 percent of the outstanding shares. The launch of Kookmin Financial Holding Co. will be made officially on Sept 29 as planned.
Officials of both Korean Financial Supervisory Committee and the bank agreed that the number of Kookmin Bank shares submitted to the Korea Securities Depository have not exceeded 15 percent of the outstanding shares as of Sept. 3, showing that the bank has succeeded in turning itself into a financial holding company.
The bank now has to pay off the shares submitted for sale by Sept. 26 and officially announce the change on Sept. 29. It took a lot of effort by Hwang Young-ki, who is named to be chairman of the new financial holding company and Kim Joong-hi, president of the projected company to persuade the institutional investors of Kookmin Bank to desist from selling their share holdings.
The new financial holding company will have 8 affiliates including KB Real Estate Trust, KB Venture Investment, KB Credit Information, KB Asset Management, KB Futures, and KB Investment and Securities. Kookmin Bank has KB Life Insurance as its affiliate.
The new financial holding company will have two top managers in Kang Chung-won, president of Kookmin Bank and Hwang Young-ki as chairman of the financial holding company. Kang will head the banking business unit, while Hwang will take charge of non-banking units.
Hwang Young-ki, the new chairman of the Kookmin Financial Holding Co., said he will try his utmost to lead the transformation and globalization of the financial industry while running the new financial holding company.
The new chairman, with a colorful background in the financial industry, said he will focus more on making the non-banking sector of the affiliated firms such as investment banking, credit card, securities and insurance businesses to be more productive. He was formerly president of Samsung Securities Co., the largest securities firm, in the country affiliated with Samsung Group.
The banking operation will be left to Kookmin Bank, which is run by its president Kang Chung-won.
Hwang, who formerly headed the Woori Financial Group as chairman, said Kookmin Financial Holding should go after M&As under its strategy to continue to lead the banking industry.
Korea Exchange Bank would be the first target for the holding company's M&A strategy, which also calls for M&As overseas to advance its globalization moves.
Hwang said he will have a close cooperation with President Kang of Kookmin Bank in setting up the governance structure of the new financial group as he did not begin his career with a bank.
The role of the holding company would be to support its affiliates from behind quietly. He said the holding company and its affiliate banks should be led by each head of the banks, adding that the Woori Financial Group has its chairman and affiliate bank presidents at the time of its establishment, and president of the Woori Bank also acted as the CEO of the financial holding company on a temporary basis. A strong board of directors could be burdensome for a CEO, but at the same time, it could ease the burden by making key decisions, he said. nw

Chairman Hwang Young-ki of the Kookmin Financial Holding Co.