Two years and that's your lot. At least that's the usual practice for heads of borrowing at Korea Development Bank (KDB). So Duck-Soo Kim's departure after three and half years in the job was if anything a bit overdue. The new man is Young-Jin Lee.
Lee's business card says he is the general manager of the international finance department. As far as Asia's mandate-hunters are concerned he sits in the most important office in the region. The bland title belies the fact that Lee is Asia's biggest borrower.
Lee, who has worked for KDB since 1969, is well aware that he has big boots to fill. His predecessor won both the respect and fear of investment bankers, and was credited with raising the state-owned bank's international profile. One banker recalls how Kim would come out of one-on-one meetings with fund managers miming the act of holding a fishing rod and talk with glee of having "reeled-in" yet another new investor. Kim held the top borrowing post for the longest period in KDB's history.
Lee took over in July, but didn't have much time to settle in. By September he was launching KDB's two-tranche $1.5