With the term of Hwang Byeong-woo, Chairman of iM Financial Holdings, set to expire in March next year, iM Financial Holdings has officially launched its race for the next chairperson. A shortlist is expected to be selected in November, followed by the appointment of a final candidate in December.
The iM Financial Holdings Chairperson Candidate Recommendation Committee initiated succession planning procedures for selecting the next chief executive officer on the 28th.
The committee plans to recommend a final candidate in December after conducting phased evaluations, including longlist selection at the end of October and shortlist selection at the end of November. This process will take approximately 20 days longer than the previous verification period (40 days) from longlist selection to final candidate appointment.
In the first phase of longlist selection, eligibility criteria and essential capabilities for a financial group CEO will be verified based on standardized application forms, supporting documents, and reputation checks conducted by multiple professional institutional investors. In the second phase of shortlist selection, independent directors and external experts will conduct in-depth evaluations of financial industry expertise, organizational leadership, and strategic thinking capabilities.
Finally, the final candidate selection process will be divided into two rounds. The first round will feature focused interviews by independent directors across specific domains, while the second round will include sessions where candidates present and discuss the group's management direction for the next three years to comprehensively assess their readiness and suitability.
iM Financial Holdings explained that it has enhanced diversity in its candidate pool by utilizing multiple professional search institutional investors for external candidates. Regardless of whether candidates are former or current executives, they will be evaluated under the same principles regarding expertise and management capabilities.
Additionally, while previously only the shortlist was made public, the committee now plans to disclose the number of candidates starting from the longlist to improve procedural transparency.
Cho Kang-rae, Chairman of the Candidate Recommendation Committee, stated, "This succession process emphasizes ensuring fair competitive opportunities for both internal and external candidates based on consulting by external professionals and enhancing objectivity and expertise through the participation of external experts in the evaluation." He further added, "We will faithfully fulfill our committee's core role by providing sufficient verification periods and transparent evaluations to recommend the optimal candidate who can lead a successful establishment and sustainable growth of the major financial group."
in FINANCE
