Woori Bank to offer succession consulting to 2,500 firms over five years

Woori Bank President Jeong Jin-wan said Sunday that business succession "is not simply a matter for one company — it is a critical economic issue directly tied to preserving jobs, protecting technological capabilities and maintaining supply chain stability across industries."

Jeong made the remarks at a press briefing on "productive business succession" held that morning at the bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. He said Woori Bank would "strengthen its role as a productive financial partner that supports sustainable corporate growth by collaborating with Kim & Chang, Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation to deliver a one-stop solution covering legal, tax and financial services."

Woori Bank defines "productive business succession" as its one-stop support framework designed to secure employment stability for workers, reinforce supply chain resilience within industries and preserve the technological capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Through its Business Succession Support Center, the bank has set a target of providing succession consulting to 500 client companies per year — selected from among those with strong employment and technology records — with a goal of reaching more than 2,500 companies over the next five years. A Woori Bank official said the bank aims "to significantly extend the average corporate lifespan in Korea, which currently falls short of 30 years, and to help continuously nurture century-old companies with solid employment and technological foundations."

According to research by the Woori Finance Research Institute, if Woori Bank successfully facilitates the succession of 100 companies per year over the next five years, the cumulative effect across 500 companies would include preserving 10,000 jobs, protecting a sales base of 10.7 trillion won (about $7.12 billion), generating 469.9 billion won (about $313 million) in production-inducing effects and 193.4 billion won (about $129 million) in value-added effects.

Woori Bank established the Business Succession Support Center in February — the first dedicated succession unit among Korean banks — staffed with specialists in accounting, taxation and mergers and acquisitions. The center has since signed MOUs with a total of 554 companies. Among the chief executives of those firms, 70.2 percent are between the ages of 50 and 69, and 20.5 percent are 70 or older, reflecting a clear aging trend in business leadership. While 52.7 percent said they hope to pass the business to a family member, 43.7 percent have yet to decide on a succession method.

The briefing also featured case studies from Japanese financial firms on employee-led succession.

According to the Woori Finance Research Institute, Japan's rate of businesses without a designated successor has fallen for six consecutive years, dropping from 65.1 percent in 2020 to 50.1 percent in 2025. Despite the improvement, roughly 120,000 companies nationwide still face the structural challenge of finding no one to take over.

However, a review of the past decade shows that family succession has declined while non-family succession — including employee buyouts and M&A — has expanded. As of 2024, non-family succession including M&A accounted for 64 percent of all cases.

Amid this shift, Japanese financial firms have increasingly treated business succession as a new business model. Mizuho Financial Group, for instance, has expanded its succession support framework through a one-stop package combining loans, mezzanine financing, equity investment and trust services.

Im Jae-ho, a director at the Woori Finance Research Institute, said Woori Bank should become "a responsible architect at the forefront of resolving social issues in the domestic business succession market — just as Japanese financial firms have turned the social challenge of successor shortages into a new financial business model."

Representatives from Kim & Chang and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers also shared strategies at the briefing, focusing on legal and tax risks that can arise during the succession process and trends in the third-party M&A market.

Woori Bank signed a "business succession cooperation MOU" with Kim & Chang and Samil PwC at its headquarters in April. Under the agreement, the three parties plan to provide legal and tax advisory services related to business succession, jointly organize education programs and seminars for companies, and exchange research and information to advance the succession system and market.

Yoon Seong-hu, head of Woori Bank's Business Succession Support Center, said the center would "provide integrated solutions covering every stage — from succession preparation and execution to post-succession management stabilization — to help small and mid-sized enterprises grow into century-old companies."