Shinhan Financial to push for governance structure reforms

SEOUL, June 30 (Yonhap) -- Shinhan Financial Group Co., South Korea's No. 3 banking group, will push to amend its governance structure and succession process as part of efforts to clean up its image that was tarnished by last year's internal strife, its head said Thursday.
"We believe that setting up the clean process of selecting group chief and creating a transparent decision-making scheme are the only way to regain confidence fast from customers and shareholders," Han Dong-woo, chairman of South Korea's No. 3 financial services company, said at a press conference.
Han said the age of the group's chief executives will be limited to 67-years-old or less in a bid to prevent them from exercising their power for a long period of time.
If a chief executive is seeking to serve a second term, he or she is allowed to stay at the helm only until the age of 70-years-old. The board of directors will supervise the overall process of selecting a chief executive, he added.
The move came as Shinhan Financial Group had been embroiled in high-profile internal strife, which erupted in September last year and was sparked by a power struggle among three of the group's former senior officials, including former chairman Ra Eung-chan.
The management feud came as Ra took control of the group for about 10 years, raising concerns that there need to be measures in place to limit the long-term tenure of a head of a local financial firm.
Meanwhile, Han reiterated that the group will make efforts to become larger in the securities and insurance business in a bid to nurture its non-bank business.