Woori Bank CEO ordered to pay 70 mln won over losses

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- The chief executive officer of Woori Bank, one of
South Korea's largest lenders, was ordered by its state-run major shareholder to
pay 70 million won (US$61,484) for causing investment losses in 2008, according
to industry sources Thursday.
The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the main shareholder of Woori Finance
Holdings, which is the parent of Woori Bank, ordered the bank's CEO Lee Chong-hwi
to pay the money to take responsibility for causing losses with derivative
instruments for the year, the sources said.
The state-run company made the decision because Lee failed to meet the bank's
earnings target for the year and caused huge losses from investments in overseas
credit-default swaps and collateralized-bond obligations, the sources said.
In the final quarter of 2008, Woori Bank posted a net loss of 691.1 billion won,
compared with a profit of 108.8 billion won for the same period a year ago.
For all of 2008, Woori Bank's net profit plunged 86.2 percent from a year ago to
234 billion won.
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