Citibank Korea CEO becomes highest-paid bank CEO

Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon / Korea Times file

By Yi Whan-woo

Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon was the highest-paid leader in the Korean banking industry in the first half of the year, data showed, Tuesday.

The data submitted by individual companies to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) showed that Yoo earned 1.86 billion won ($1.39 million) in the January-June period, which breaks down to 280 million won in salary and 1.57 billion won in bonuses.

The amount was highest among all CEOs, both active and retired, of banks and larger financial holding companies here.

Ham Young-joo of Hana Financial Group ranked second, earning 1.82 billion won ― 450 million won in salary and 1.35 billion won in bonuses.

Son Tae-seung, who retired in March after leading Woori Financial Group for more than four years, received 1.3 billion won in total.

Park Jong-bok of SC Bank Korea was the last of the four leaders in the industry to receive more than 1 billion won, earning 320 million won in salary and 873 million won in bonuses for a combined 1.19 billion won.

Yun Ho-young of KakaoBank was the highest-paid CEO in the internet-only banking sector, with a 747 million won paycheck.

Yoon Jong-kyoo, who leads KB Financial Group, the country's largest financial holding firm, received 645 million won.

Lee Jae-keun, the CEO of the group's flagship affiliate KB Kookmin Bank, earned 587 million won.

Shinhan Bank, the archrival of KB Kookmin Bank, paid 534 million won to Jung Sang-hyuk, its CEO.