iM Financial Holding narrows its pool of next chairman candidates to 6. After in-depth interviews, it plans to finalise a shortlist in late November and recommend 1 final candidate in December.

iM Financial Holding's Chairman Candidate Nomination Committee met on Oct. 27 and selected 6 long-list candidates to appoint the next chief executive officer, it said.

The committee carries out a first-stage verification and evaluation of internal and external standing candidates for about four weeks after starting the management succession process on Sept. 28.

Based on application forms and supporting documents submitted by candidates in the same format, it checks qualification requirements. It also comprehensively evaluates the results of reputation checks by an external specialist institution, major management performance, expertise in the financial industry, leadership, and ethical and responsible management.

For this long-list selection, it also reflects verification data from an external specialist institution and evaluation results by independent directors. It decides not to disclose the list, considering candidates' personal information protection and the independence of future evaluations.

The committee will conduct a second-stage in-depth assessment of long-list candidates over the next four weeks. Independent directors plan to evaluate candidates' management philosophy, the group's future vision, leadership and management capabilities through in-depth interviews.

External experts in finance, management, leadership and strategy will also separately conduct in-depth interviews with candidates. Assessment items are structured around three core competencies: expertise in the financial industry, organisational leadership, and strategic thinking.

The committee plans to finalise the shortlist in late November by combining the results of the second-stage assessment.

In the final stage, independent directors will conduct intensive interviews by area. Candidates will then hold a '3 Yrs. Visioning' session to present and discuss the group's management direction over the next three years. Through this, it plans to verify readiness and suitability as CEO and recommend a final candidate in December.

Kang-rae Cho (조강래), chairman of the committee, said the long-list selection process focused on standardising the format of documents submitted by each candidate and using reputation information from an external specialist institution to enhance objectivity and fairness in the evaluation.