The newly minted chief of Woori Bank said on Tuesday that he would step up his efforts to privatize the bank during his term.

He also said the bank would strengthen its digital business that includes the Internet bank -- an online bank dealing with lending activities and money transfers.

“To help achieve privatization, Woori Bank plans to improve its sales capacity and maximize its business value,” Lee Kwang-goo, the new chief of Woori Bank, told reporters at a press briefing.

He elaborated on the business goals by saying the bank would increase its asset by 15 trillion won ($13 billion) each year up until 2016 to achieve a 1 trillion won profit by then.

Currently, Woori Bank’s assets stand at around 250 trillion won.

Lee added that moving faster into the mobile territory is crucial for cultivating new growth engines for responding to the latest industry trends that include financial technology. 

“As more innovative tech companies are quickly jumping into the financial market, convergence among industries is becoming a pressing issue for financial firms,” he said.

“We should reflect that we may have long neglected issues such as low-profitability caused by low-interest rate and tech companies’ tapping into the financial market,” he said.

Woori Bank also plans to strengthen its overseas business next year, the chief said.

“By pushing ahead with merger and acquisition as well as increasing branches in Southeast Asia, we plan to eventually raise the portion of our overseas profit to 10 percent from 6 percent,“ he said.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)