Woori Financial Establishes Ethics Management Office, Accelerating Internal Control Innovation

[Field News = Reporter Kim Dae-seong]  Woori Financial Group announced on the 26th that it has established the 'Ethics Management Office,' a dedicated organization for group ethics management and executive inspection, and has recruited external legal expert Attorney Lee Dong-su (30th Judicial Research and Training Institute class) as the head of the office.

Last November, Woori Financial established the 'Ethics Management Office' under the holding company's Audit Committee to strengthen the Board of Directors' management and supervision functions regarding the group's management.

The Ethics Management Office will serve as a control tower, performing roles such as inspecting executives of group companies, establishing and disseminating ethics policies, and establishing policies for the internal whistleblower system.

In particular, it will oversee the 'Executive Relatives' Personal (Credit) Information Registration System,' which is being implemented for the first time in the financial sector. By verifying whether executives exercise undue influence or comply with internal control standards when handling loans for relatives, internal control regarding loans for relatives of group company executives is expected to be significantly strengthened. In addition, the office plans to thoroughly investigate rumors regarding the misconduct of executives.

When the 'Ethics and Internal Control Committee' is launched next March, the Ethics Management Office will be organized under the said committee, and the committee will exercise the authority to appoint and evaluate the head of the Ethics Management Office. The plan is to thoroughly guarantee independence in performing duties such as executive inspection and ethics policy.

Chairman Lim Jong-ryong stated, "Establishing a dedicated organization for executive inspection directly under a committee within the Board of Directors and appointing an external legal expert as the head expresses our determination to fundamentally block the misconduct of management." He added, "The group management will take the lead and engage in bone-cutting efforts to regain the trust of Woori Financial with a desperate mindset of 'Musin-bullip' (no trust, no standing)."

Woori Financial established a 'Group Personnel Standard System,' which includes the abolition of the holding company chairman's personnel authority over subsidiary executives, and fully implemented it starting with the group executive appointments on the 12th.

Furthermore, it has enhanced supervision and monitoring functions by upgrading the bank's Anti-Money Laundering Center and the Loan Audit Department to headquarters-level status, and further advanced the internal control control tower organization by placing the Information Security Division under the Compliance Officer.

The group is also continuously improving its internal control system, such as strengthening the early detection function for financial accidents by building an FDS (Fraud Detection System) by next February.