51, Sogong-ro,
Jung-gu, Seoul, 04632 Korea
February 29, 2024
Dear Shareholders,
On behalf of Woori Financial Group Inc., I wish to convey my sincere appreciation for your ongoing trust and support.
The year 2023 unfolded amidst persistent high interest rates and escalating economic challenges. In this macroeconomic environment, we focused on
strengthening our financial foundation, concentrating on enhancing our capacity for loss absorption to proactively address market concerns to ensure stability and confidence amongst our stakeholders. Despite a decrease in our year-over-year net
income profits, we have successfully maintained our position at the forefront of financial stability in 2023. Such success is evidenced by our exemplary non-performing loan (NPL) and coverage ratios.
Reflecting this, our stock price went up 12.6% in 2023. Looking ahead to 2024, we aim to leverage our reinforced financial base to capitalize on our core business competencies and synergies among our subsidiaries, to achieve a turnaround in our
profit.
The past year was pivotal for our shareholder return policy, marking a first in our history since we became a holding company with the repurchase
and cancellation of KRW 100 billion in treasury shares. This was complemented by the initiation of a KRW 180 per share quarterly dividend from the second quarter onwards. Furthermore, on February 6, 2024, we announced a year-end dividend of KRW 640 per share, amounting to a total dividend of KRW 1,000 per share for the year. We plan to make changes to our medium- to long-term capital and shareholder return policies to proactively
boost shareholder returns. This will involve gradually increasing dividends per share and total shareholder return rates.
Additionally, driven by our
vision of “creating a better world through finance”, we have embarked on a journey to make a substantial impact across the environmental, social and corporate governance (“ESG”) domains. The year 2023 marked a significant
milestone as our carbon emission strategies received validation from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and was awarded the prestigious ‘AAA’ top ESG rating from MSCI.
We are committed to leading by example in corporate governance and internal controls, ensuring that our practices not only meet, but exceed industry
standards, thereby safeguarding our stakeholders’ interests and maintaining our reputation for integrity and excellence in the business community. We have launched the “Group Internal Control Enhancement Program” and deployed
specialized internal control personnel directly within our operational teams. Furthermore, we require our employees to acquire mandatory internal control work experience before we promote them to senior management roles. We have also renewed our
corporate ethics system by ensuring that all employees and officers pledge to comply with our code of ethics and conducting educational workshops on a regular basis.
In response to inquiries concerning our sale of equity-linked securities linked to the Hong Kong Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, we would like to note that
our sales figures were considerably lower than those of our industry peers. This reflects our conscientious and deliberate risk management strategy, informed by historical lessons involving our private equity fund sales incident in the past. This
can also be considered the result of our continuous emphasis on a culture of voluntary internal control and strict adherence to regulatory recommendations by financial authorities.
Recently, there has been a significant increase in societal interest regarding the importance of the role of the board of directors of financial institutions
and the assurance of independence for independent directors. We have dedicated considerable efforts to enhancing governance by appointing qualified independent directors in terms of independence and expertise. We are pleased to announce that we have
achieved this, with the announcement of the reappointments and new appointments of the following Independent directors: Chan-Hyoung Chung, In-Sub Yoon, and Yo-Hwan Shin will be reappointed, and Eun-Ju Lee and Sunyoung Park will be appointed as new independent directors to enhance the skill mix on the Board as well as gender diversity. Additionally, in pursuit of strengthening our internal control
capabilities, we propose to reappoint Chan-Hyoung Chung and Yo-Hwan Shin as members of the audit committee.
We encourage all of our shareholders to
attend our upcoming annual general meeting of shareholders scheduled for March 22, 2024, and sincerely ask for your support for the agenda items at hand. The shareholders’ meeting will take place at Synergy Hall, Woori Bank Head Office
Building, 51 Sogong-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea. Please refer to the Convocation Notice for further details on our proposals, including the professional highlights of our director candidates and the reasons for
their nominations.
We are expecting 2024 to be a year of significant momentum for WFG as it advances to become a dominant player in the financial sector.
Despite the challenging environment, we promise to make every effort to continue our development and to maximize shareholder value. We look forward to your continued support and cooperation as we strive towards our vision and the creation of
long-term value for all stakeholders.
Sincerely,
Jong-Yong Yim
Chairman and CEO
Woori Financial Group