April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The Bank of Korea has decided to appoint an insider as the new reserve management chief that has been served by outside experts over the past six years, according to news reports on Jan. 18.

The central bank plans to name the successor of Lee Dong-min, current chief of the Reserve Management Group, in an annual executive reshuffle later this month.

“Hiring an outsider has both pros and cons. We have decided to fill the top post with an insider considering our competitive talent pool and organizational morale overall,” a BOK official was quoted as saying by Chosun Biz.

The reserve management team is responsible for managing the bank’s foreign currency assets and planning the investment strategy. As of December last year, Korea’s foreign currency assets were worth about US$389.2 billion, the ninth-largest globally.

The BOK named an outside figure to serve the top post in 2012 for the first time in its 62-year history with aims to seek synergies with the growing reformist sentiment in the private sector at the time.

The first outside chief was Kim Eui-jin, former executive at Samsung Asset Management. He was one of the founding members of research institute Samsung Economic Research Institute that was founded in 1986. He also served diverse positions at Samsung’s other financial units.

His successor and the current chief Lee was also a “Samsung man” who worked as strategy investment chief at Samsung Life Insurance before joining the BOK in 2015.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)