Woori Bank restructures for second half, creates ESG inclusive finance unit

Woori Bank has overhauled its headquarters organization with a focus on retail sales, internal controls and operational efficiency, while also creating a new division aligned with financial regulators' push for inclusive finance.

According to the bank's reorganization plan released Thursday, Woori Bank merged four existing units — the personal banking strategy division, real estate finance division, channel strategy division and MyData platform division — into a single "retail banking headquarters division." The consolidated unit will serve as a control tower for developing and executing retail sales strategies based on customer data analysis.

The bank restructured its global inspection functions, previously handled by the headquarters audit division, under a unified inspection oversight division to consolidate domestic and overseas examination responsibilities. Within the headquarters audit division, Woori Bank also established a new management audit team tasked with verifying the appropriateness of major management decisions and monitoring their status. The bank said the changes enhance the expertise of its audit functions and strengthen its internal control capabilities.

The ESG shared-growth finance division will be renamed the ESG inclusive finance division, with plans to expand support for financially vulnerable groups. Financial regulators plan to add a "governance" category to their comprehensive inclusive finance evaluation framework to assess how meaningfully inclusive finance principles are reflected in banks' management decision-making.

Woori Bank also said it improved headquarters efficiency by merging teams with closely related functions within divisions and realigning some responsibilities. The bank plans to redeploy the freed-up personnel and capabilities to frontline sales operations and core business areas to boost productivity and execution.

Choi Sang-jin, deputy general manager of Woori Bank's comprehensive planning division, said the reorganization "focused on striking a balance between strengthening data-driven sales competitiveness and internal control capabilities." He added that the bank would "continue to provide differentiated financial services for customers through efficient organizational management, while actively practicing inclusive finance for vulnerable groups to further solidify a foundation for sustainable growth."