Korean lender considers W3tr support program as aging founders struggle to find successors Woori Bank CEO Jung Jin-wan speaks during a press conference on the bank's corporate succession business at its headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. (Choi Ji-won/ The Korea Herald) Woori Bank is pushing into corporate succession for small and medium-sized companies as a new banking frontier, casting it as an economic issue tied to jobs, technology and supply chain stability as Korea's first-generation founders age without clear successors.At a press conference Monday in Seoul, CEO Jung Jin-wan said the bank would support what it calls "productive corporate succession" to prevent viable companies from closing or downsizing."Corporate succession is not just a priority for individual companies, but a critical economic task directly tied to preserving jobs, retaining technology and stabilizing industry supply chains," Jung said. "Woori Bank is working to ensure that jobs, technology and industrial foundations are passed on in a stable way."The bank launched its Corporate Succession Support Center in February, the first dedicated unit of its kind in the banking sector. The center brings together experts in accounting, tax, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance to advise SMEs on family succession, management buyouts, employee buyouts and third-party sales.For the initiative, Woori Bank has partnered with Kim & Chang, Samil PwC and the Korea Technology Finance Corporation to provide integrated legal, tax and financing support. It has signed succession-related memorandums of understanding with 554 companies and has so far provided consulting to 102 of them.Jung said the agenda goes beyond ownership transfer because key industrial technologies are often embedded in smaller suppliers."Technology is not made only by large companies," Jung said. "As you go down to first- and second-tier vendors, small companies are often much more specialized in core technologies."He pointed to supply chain disruptions in manufacturing as an example of how the failure of a single supplier can affect larger companies. If succession issues are left unresolved, large companies may eventually have to acquire smaller suppliers themselves to preserve key technologies and production networks, he said.The companies that signed MOUs with Woori underscore the urgency. Among their CEOs, 70.2 percent were aged 50 to 69, while 20.5 percent were 70 or older. While 52.7 percent hoped to pass their businesses to their children, 43.7 percent had yet to choose a succession method.Corporate succession requires long-term preparation, rather than a quick transfer of control, Jung underscored."This is not something that can be done in one or two years," he said. "We need to look at the company over a horizon of at least 10 years and manage the process over a long period."The CEO said the bank is considering mobilizing more than 3 trillion won ($2 billion) in financial support over the next five years through guarantees, investment banking-backed M&A support, loans and dedicated funds, with an initial goal of providing succession consulting to 2,500 firms over the same period.