Woori Financial chief pledges to innovate like Amazon, Google

Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung has urged the group‘s subsidiaries to gear up for business innovation this year by benchmarking global tech giants Amazon and Google, officials said Sunday. 

“Just as the innovative tech behemoths Amazon and Google did, let’s seek innovation with a mindset like it’s always day one, to get back to the basics and start work with a renewed mind and to surprise the market by achieving a groundbreaking performance,” said Sohn in an online strategy meeting with employees Friday. 

Stressing the new corporate vision “Innovate Today, Create Tomorrow,” announced last week, Sohn noted innovation and efficiency should be the main core values at the heart of this year’s six management strategies. The group aims to strengthen business foundation and to become No.1 in digital financial services. Its vision also includes maximizing business effectiveness, accelerating the environmental, social and governance drives, enhancing internal controls and expanding businesses abroad. 

The chairman also reiterated the importance of rapidly adapting and responding to business disruptions in the era of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Woori Financial’s growth potential has been highly recognized by the market. Just like coil springs, we have to take a leap forward in both financial and nonfinancial sectors,” Sohn said. 

During the meeting, CEOs of the group’s affiliates also vowed to comply with the group’s ESG management principles.

The leaders voiced their support for the international nonprofit organization Climate Disclosure Project, which provides standards of environmental reporting to companies across the globe, officials said. They also pledged to support the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, an industry-led initiative created by the Financial Stability Board to encourage financial companies to voluntarily disclose climate-related risks to investors and lenders, they added. The FSB is a global financial regulator created by the G-20 designed to monitor the global financial system. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)