Credit union federation appoints Lee Jong-seong as head of KCU NPL Dabu

The National Credit Union Federation of Korea announced Tuesday that it has appointed Lee Jong-seong as the new chief executive of its subsidiary KCU NPL Dabu.

Executives and staff from the federation and its subsidiaries attended the ceremony to recognize the contributions of outgoing CEO Kang Hyeong-min and celebrate Lee's appointment.

Lee brings expertise from the asset management industry, having worked at Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and Umbrella Asset, and plans to use that background to strengthen KCU NPL Dabu's non-performing loan management capabilities.

In his inaugural address, Lee said the company must not remain simply a firm that buys and collects non-performing loans. "We will grow KCU NPL Dabu into a specialized asset management platform for the credit union sector — one that supports the financial soundness of member unions and restores the value of distressed assets," he said.

He also pledged to build a company grounded in expertise and principle, an organization that communicates and grows together, and a company that prepares for the future. Emphasizing trust, Lee said he would establish KCU NPL Dabu as a company trusted by the federation, member unions, the market and its own staff alike.

A legal basis for establishing a credit union asset management company to handle overdue loans from member unions quickly and professionally was recently put in place. The credit union federation plans to set up the asset management company by the end of this year and upgrade its non-performing loan management framework.

In line with the launch of the credit union asset management company, KCU NPL Dabu plans to build a cooperative structure drawing on its accumulated asset management expertise and on-the-ground experience, and to take an active role in improving the financial soundness of member unions and swiftly resolving distressed assets.

Meanwhile, the credit union sector's delinquency rate stood in the 6 percent range in the first half of this year, up from 4.83 percent at the end of last year. Ko Yeong-cheol, chairman of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, said at his inauguration that his goal was to bring the delinquency rate below 3 percent by tightening non-performing loan resolution and asset management systems.