Woori Bank chief vows to dramatically narrow gap with rivals in second half

Woori Bank President Jeong Jin-wan called on all employees to "deliver clear results in the second half and dramatically narrow the gap with rival banks."

Jeong made the remarks Friday at the "2026 Second-Half Management Strategy Conference" held at the bank's head office in Jung-gu, Seoul. He said that since more than 90 percent of all staff — some 12,000 employees — are shareholders through the employee stock ownership plan, they must "raise productivity and performance with a sense of ownership and translate that into enhanced corporate value."

At the conference, Woori Bank shared its second-half sales strategy and execution plans, centering on data-driven sales, cross-business-group collaboration and internal controls.

Woori Bank posted a net profit for the period of 842.1 billion won ($573 million) in the second quarter of this year, up 58 percent quarter-on-quarter. Its common equity tier 1 ratio rose 2.2 percentage points to 15.3 percent as of end-June from 13.1 percent at end-2024, placing it among the top tier in the banking sector. Won-denominated loans also grew 7.8 trillion won in the first half, supported by restored capital capacity. Boosted by the strong performance of its core subsidiary Woori Bank, Woori Financial Group posted a net profit for the period of 1.61 trillion won in the first half of this year, successfully turning around from the first quarter.

Jeong said the bank must now convert its accumulated customer base into revenue. "We must now turn the customer base we have built up into actual profit," he said. "We need to focus our capabilities on genuine sales that develop customer transactions into lasting relationships, not sales that simply expand volume."

Woori Bank will pursue data-driven sales systems, bank-wide synergy and internal controls as its core second-half sales strategies. The plan is to use data to gain a precise understanding of customers and connect those insights to products, channels and specialized capabilities to expand transactions and revenue.

The bank will analyze public data, commercial district information and customer profiles by administrative district, then redesign its sales territories around those administrative boundaries.

With 88.4 percent of individual customers transacting exclusively through non-face-to-face channels, the bank also plans to integrate dispersed data to analyze each customer's transaction patterns and product and channel usage, and apply those findings to customer consultations and marketing.

The bank will connect corporate banking, asset management, retirement pension and digital platforms in a customer-centric way, linking services including Samsung Wallet Money, WON Biz Plaza, Woori WON FX and Woori SAFE Settlement.