KB Financial Vice Chairman Yang named sole chairman candidate

KB Financial Group Inc. has chosen Yang Jong-hee, its vice chairman, as the sole candidate for its next chief in charge of South Korea’s leading financial group with assets of 706 trillion won ($529.4 billion), the group’s Chairman Recommendation Committee announced on Friday.

The race for the KB Financial leadership was vied for by three nominees – Yang, Hur Yin, another vice chairman of KB Financial Group, and Kim Byoung-ho, the chairman of HDBank in Vietnam.

Yang became KB Financial’s vice chairman in 2020 and has led the group’s global insurance business, digital transition, as well as the private banking and asset management businesses.

Born in 1961, Yang joined the now-bankrupt Housing & Commercial Bank in 1989 and joined KB Kookmin Bank after the two banks were merged in 2001.

Once Yang gets the final nod from a shareholders meeting in November, he will lead the leading Korean financial group until November 2026.

The incumbent Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo’s term ends in November 2023 after nine years in the role.  

KB Financial is competing for Korea’s top banking group position with its archrival Shinhan Financial Group Co., which returned to the top position last year three years after it yielded to KB Financial.

KB Financial is seeking to snatch back the crown from Shinhan Financial this year.

Write to Bo-Hyung Kim at kph21c@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.