Woori Financial Group, a major South Korean banking group, plans to shortlist new CEO candidates for its flagship banking unit next week, a company official has said.

Woori Financial has selected seven candidates for the top post at Woori Bank. It declined to identify them because the process is under way.

The successful candidate will begin a two-year term as Woori Bank‘s CEO if approved at Woori Bank’s general shareholders‘ meeting in March, the official said.

Woori Bank, South Korea’s fourth-largest lender by assets, is a flagship unit of Woori Financial.

The South Korean government had owned a controlling 51 percent stake in Woori Bank through the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., a legacy of the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

Currently, Woori Bank is still 17.4 percent owned by the South Korean government. Korea Deposit Insurance said it plans to sell its stake in Woori Bank, though it did not provide details. (Yonhap)