KDB at Turning Point

New Chairman Kang promises globalization and the spearheading of changes in financial industry

Chairman Kang Man-soo of the National Competitive Power Strengthening Committee and a Special Presidential Economic Consultant, was inaugurated on March 14 as chairman of the KDB Financial Group and Governor of the Korea Development Bank in a ceremony held at the KDB auditorium with some 200 top executives of the financial group in attendance, including President Im Kee-young of Daewoo Securities Co. and Park Sang-jo, chief of the Korea Exchange KOSDAQ Market Committee.
The new chairman said in his inaugural speech at the ceremony that he will strengthen the role of the financial group in the financial industry and be a pioneer for advancing into the world financial market. He recalled that on many occasions he worked alongside KDB people on financial matters and now he has become a family member.
The former minister of the Strategy and Finance Ministry said he has always believed in warm feelings for fellow human beings and hoped that KDB officers and staff would warmly regard him as a big brother.
“A century ago, our country was like a shrimp with its back broken between a war among big whales, but now things have changed. Korea was the chair nation for the G-20 Summit meeting in Seoul last year, leading the world financial market, and as the seventh largest exporter in the world, it is like a small dolphin, but a smart one,” Kang said. “If we take the current global economic crisis as an opportunity, we will soon be an advanced first-rate country.”
Kang will be officially approved as the governor of the KDB at the March 22 shareholders meeting. He received his appointment letter from Chairman Kim Seok-dong of the Financial Services Commission on March 11.
The FSC’s background for recommending Kang is related to the need to speed up the privatization of the KDB Financial Group, which includes the Korea Development Bank, Daewoo Securities Co., and other affiliates, and they believe he is the right person to do it. Kang has been calling for the creation of a mega bank in Korea with some 50 trillion won in assets and he was once the Minister of Strategy and Finance and a close advisor to the Chief Executive when President Lee was running for the top office in the country.
Financial sources said the President Lee administration from the start had wanted to privatize the Korea Development Bank and its affiliates as a symbol of the reform of the nation’s financial sector, but it has been long delayed. Kang, who has a lot of experience setting up financial policies including provisions of official funds to salvage troubled financial institutions and the handling of economic policies, is considered the right person to take charge of financial sector reform at this stage.
“As Kang has a wealth of experience and knowledge on local and global economy and finance, he is well qualified to lead KDB Financial,” the FSC said in a news release.
Kang, a native of Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, earned a bachelor’s degree in law at Seoul National University in 1969 and a master’s degree in economics at New York University in 1987.
He joined the Finance Ministry in 1970 and became vice minister in 1997. When the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998 exposed the nation’s banking system to be opaque and inefficient, he stepped down from his post. Then he became an advisor to President Lee. Kang, who met the president in church, worked on Lee’s presidential campaign and his win assured Kang of the post of Minister of Strategy and Finance.
According to pertinent regulations, Kang, who resigned as finance minister at the start of 2009, became eligible for a finance industry job this month, as Korean law bans former bureaucrats from seeking private-sector employment in industries influenced by their old jobs within two years of leaving their post. He joined the ministry in 1970 and became vice minister in 1997.
Founded in 1954, the KDB has fulfilled its role as a state-owned bank by spearheading the nation’s industrial and economic development for over five decades. The bank has driven remarkable growth throughout the course of the industrialization of Korea. In particular, the bank made a significant contribution to the country’s recovery from the Asian financial crisis by taking the lead in the restructuring of ailing companies. More recently, the bank has exerted its efforts toward nurturing innovative SMEs and venture companies, assisting balanced national development and expanding future growth engines. nw

Chairman Kang Man-soo of KDB Financial Group and Gov. of Korea Development Bank inaugurated on March 14.

Photo by courtesy of KDB Financial Group