Vice president of Woori Bank tapped as new head

Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea's No. 2 banking group, said Tuesday it picked the vice president of Woori Bank as the new chief executive officer of the group's flagship banking unit.

   The state-run financial services company said its seven-member special president selection committee selected Lee Soon-woo, 61, to lead South Korea's second-largest lender for three years.

   Woori Bank is currently headed by Lee Chong-hwi, whose three-year term ends in late March.

   The selection comes after incumbent group chairman Lee Pal-seung was named to be at the helm for another three years in an effort to help accelerate the stalled privatization of the state-run banking group.

   Shareholders are scheduled to meet on Thursday to give the final nod to the nomination of the new CEO.

   The group also nominated Song Ki-jin, the current president of Kwangju Bank, to lead the regional bank unit for another term and Park Young-been, acting president of Kyongnam Bank, as the regional lender's head.

   The nominations are subject to approval from shareholders' meetings on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

   "The bank president selection committee selected the final president candidates through a fair and transparent process," Woori Finance said in a statement. (Yonhap News)