The nominating committee of NH Investment & Securities (005940.KS) has excluded current Chief Executive Officer Yoon Byung-woon from the shortlist of candidates for the firm's next CEO, according to people familiar with the matter.
The committee held a meeting Tuesday to narrow down the candidate pool but did not include Yoon, according to the financial investment industry. The committee also recently excluded individuals who had retired more than two years ago, sources said. As a result, all the prominent candidates previously mentioned were cut off.
The industry views it as somewhat unusual that Yoon, who delivered results including record earnings and approval for the investment management account (IMA) business, failed to make the shortlist. In particular, with NH Investment & Securities deciding to shift its governance from a single-CEO system to a co-CEO system, there had been forecasts that Yoon, regarded as an investment banking (IB) expert, could play some role. But the committee's judgment was different.
Analysts say the committee ultimately made a choice emphasizing future growth strategy and organizational innovation over performance evaluation. The interpretation is that, with accelerating digital transformation, changes in the global market environment, and diversification of the investor landscape requiring a higher level of innovation and faster decision-making across the financial investment industry, the firm set out to build a new leadership system.
"The shortlist work is being carried out as an extension of generational change and organizational transformation to secure future competitiveness, in line with the organizational innovation and structural improvement drive at the broader Nonghyup level," an official in the financial investment industry said.
