Woori Bank, the country’s largest lender by assets, aims to be in the top 10 in Asia, CEO Lee Soon-woo said at the bank’s annual meeting of executives Saturday.

“This year will be a challenging one for us as the banking industry is facing major takeovers which would reshuffle the rankings of the top four. We need to be at our best to strengthen fundamentals to become a global bank,” the chief of the state-run bank told his workers.

Lee’s comments follow regulator’s approval on Lone Star Fund’s sale of the Korea Exchange Bank Friday which cleared the final hurdle for Hana Financial Group to complete the purchase. The merged entity would become the third-largest commercial bank here with more than 315 trillion won ($275 billion), trailing Woori Finance Holdings, which manages 332 trillion won, and KB Financial Group at 330 trillion won.

The annual gathering of more than 2,100 executives and employees was a chance to set their sales target and reward top branch managers. Lee donated 700 million won in support funds for 113 children at the Childfund Korea in celebration of the bank’s 113 years of operation.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)