November 29, 2024

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New Hana Bank CEO Lee Seung-lyul waves the bank's flag during an inauguration ceremony held at its headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Hana Financial Group)

The new CEO of Hana Bank, one of South Korea's top four commercial banks, vowed that the bank will become a leading lender that is stronger in times of crisis.

To reach this goal, new CEO Lee Seung-lyul, 60, stressed that he will “enable honest communication and build solid trust within the organization” during an inauguration ceremony held at Hana Bank’s headquarters in Seoul on Monday.

Lee also said the bank only exists because there are clients and asked employees to conduct all the projects with its clients in the center of their minds.

To further develop Hana Bank's unique and differentiated business, he also laid out plans to nurture experts in core business sectors such as pension, IB, global, and IT as well as fostering more marketing talent at local branches.

He will also work on further strengthening the bank’s strong points such as asset management, corporate finance and foreign exchange.

During the inauguration ceremony, Lee also introduced his motto: The wisest measure to win people's hearts is listening carefully to what others have to say. Lee vowed to visit local branches frequently to listen to employees' opinions.

Lee was appointed as the new CEO of Hana Bank through a shareholders' meeting which was held after he was named the final candidate in December.

Lee is a graduate of Seoul National University. He started his banking career by joining the now-defunct Korea Exchange Bank, which merged under Hana Bank. After the merger from 2016 to 2018, he served as the head of the management planning division and contributed to the bank's profit growth.

Lee became the first CEO of Hana Bank with a Foreign Exchange Bank background since the merger in 2015.

Until recently, he served as the CEO of Hana Life after being appointed in March 2022.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)