Top executives and employees of Woori Financial Group and its banking subsidiary, Woori Bank, will fully comply with the sanctions of the country’s financial supervisory authorities, the group chairman said Wednesday.
Woori Financial Chairman Yim Jong-yong made these comments as part of an apology in response to the latest development involving repeated employee embezzlements and questionable business practices at Woori over the past few years.
The swift action followed a prosecution raid at the bank’s headquarters on Tuesday. The raid was conducted over suspicions that relatives of former group chairman Son Tae-seung were granted a total of 35 billion won ($26 million) in poorly evaluated loans between April 2022 and Jan. 16.
The remaining outstanding balance of the loan came to 30.4 billion won, as of July 19, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Over 88 percent, or 26.9 billion won, is backed by collateral but is non-performing. Up to 15.8 billion won will be unrecoverable, according to Woori Bank.
I deeply apologize for causing grave concern to the public and Woori customers over the unethical lending practices involving former chairman Son,” Yim said during an impromptu meeting at the group headquarters in Seoul.
“Woori employees, including the bank CEO and myself, will humbly accept the conclusion of the investigative authorities and follow the steps required of us.”
The chairman called for a thorough review of current lending practices, a critical process to prevent the recurrence of irregularities and identify methods to completely replace the failing internal control system.
“We will establish a new corporate culture of integrity, underpinned by group-wide action plans reflective of our values and ethics,” he said. “We will fully 토토 cooperate with the FSS and the prosecution to lay bare in detail the long-overlooked practices.”
The recent slew of troubling developments surrounding Woori should not undermine employee morale, he added.
“The management must actively address and alleviate the concerns of employees who are understandably disheartened. Our responsibilities will continue without interruption. Branch office employees will focus on improving customer service, while group officials will ensure the seamless implementation of directives from the top.”
Earlier in the day, the group signed a stock purchase agreement to acquire a 75.34 percent stake in Tongyang Life for 1.28 trillion won and the entire stake in ABL Life for 265.4 billion won. The price-to-book ratios for the two stood at 0.65 and 0.30, respectively, as of March 31.
