이 기사는 2019년 12월 10일 08:00 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

The heads of NongHyup Financial Group's subsidiaries are set to be decided. All incumbent chairmen of the group's subsidiaries except for that of NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance, Oh Byoung-kwan, will likely keep their seats.

According to financial services industry sources on December 4, NongHyup Financial Group held the fourth recommendation committee meeting on December 3 to decide next chief executives of its four subsidiaries. Lee Dae-hoon (NongHyup Bank), Choi Chang-soo (NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance), Hong Jae-eun (NongHyup Life Insurance) and Lee Koo-chan (NH Capital) were selected as sole candidates.

“We have decided to minimize the changes in the reshuffle,” said a NongHyup Financial Group official, adding “The recommendation committee members agonized until the last minute over whether to select Choi Chang-soo as the CEO of NongHyup Bank. However, we decided to select the one who has proven his ability, considering worsening financial services industry environment next year.”

The group’s recommendation committee originally planned to select four CEO candidates of its four affiliates on November 27. The committee will interview candidates on December 6 at its final recommendation committee meeting and make a final decision.

“Although the interview process will take place on December 6, the candidates are shoe-ins after four times of recommendation committee meetings. As all four affiliates selected sole candidates, it is highly unlikely that the unexpected change will occur,” said the official.

Choi Chang-soo, current vice president of NongHyup Financial Group, has been selected as the candidate to become NongHyup Property & Casualty Insurance’s new CEO to replace current CEO Oh. Choi has long been the major competitor of Lee Dae-hoon to become the head of NongHyup Bank.

Choi is one of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF)’s chairman Kim Byung-won’s men. Both are from Naju, South Jeolla Province, and have built strong networks in the region. With Kim recently declared to run in next year’s election, Choi is said to be his strong supporter. Kim is expected to step down before the end of his term (March 11, 2020), considering a candidate has to step down 90 days before election day.

NongHyup Property and Casualty Insurance CEO Oh’s two-year term will end in December. Born in Daejeon, Oh has promoted to the head of NongHyup Property and Casualty Insurance in 2017, after serving as the group’s vice president.

NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon is set to become the first CEO of the lender to serve three terms. Up to now, the heads of NongHyup Financial Group's affiliates had only served a maximum of two terms.

(By reporter Sohn Hyun-ji)