NH Card, the card issuer under South Korean financial service provider NongHyup Financial Group, announced Monday it had appointed Lee Min-kyung, executive vice president at NH NongHyup Bank, as its first female chief.

Lee will lead NH Card, which is operated as a company-in-company under the lender. The card unit explained Lee was named as its new CEO for her extensive experience in consumer protection and asset management.

Born in 1967, Lee joined the bank in 1986 and has been with the lender for nearly 40 years. She has headed the financial consumer protection group at NH NongHyup Bank, as well as its wealth management division.

With the appointment, Lee vowed to set up a customer-centric reward system at the card issuer, expand its customer base, strengthen the New NH Pay platform and lead customer-focused innovations such as strengthening the competitiveness of products for sustainable growth.

In December, NH Card launched an integrated digital platform New NH Pay, streamlining the payment process and offering customized features for frequently used services.

“(NH Card) faces challenges in its business growth amid the heightened uncertainty in the economic environment and management,” Lee said.

“All efforts will be put into establishing a customer management system for NH Card and striving to secure future customers, such as launching foreigner-exclusive products.”

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)