KB’s new chair seeks 30% company value boost

Euh Yoon Dae vowed to quit post if he could not improve group’s stock value.

KB Financial Group Inc.’s newly nominated chairman, Euh Yoon Dae, aims to boost the value of the company by at least 30 percent as he cuts costs, shifts workers from the head office in Seoul to branches and increases fee income with services such as mobile banking.

Euh, 65, said that while market conditions will dictate the pace of consolidation among South Korea’s financial companies, he doesn’t plan to make any takeovers for at least two years. Combining KB Financial, owner of the nation’s biggest bank, with rival Woori Finance Holdings Co. is one option to consider in the future, he said.

“If I cannot improve our stock value, I have to quit the job,” Euh, who will become chairman on July 13, said in an interview in Seoul on Thursday. “We have to convince investors that KB has the growth potential.”

The professor of business administration fills a void left nine months ago when his predecessor, Hwang Young Key, was forced out amid government criticism of his record during the global credit crunch. Euh may benefit from an economy forecast to expand 5.8 percent this year and South Korea’s plans to sell its 57 percent stake in Woori and list state-run KDB Financial Group Inc. on the stock market.

View the full story in Business Week.