Introducing ECCK's CFO Forum

Benjamin Banzhaf, CFO of Daimler Trucks Korea Ltd.,

Advocacy Platform Insights

Interview with CFO Forum Chairperson Benjamin Banzhaf

Please introduce the ECCK CFO Forum and yourself as the chairperson.

“Hello” to the community of European companies in Korea. My name is Benjamin Banzhaf. I am the new Chairperson of the European Chamber of Commerce of Korea (ECCK)'s CFO Forum since September 2020 and since May 2019 the CFO for Daimler Trucks Korea, a subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG. I have been active in the automotive industry for more than 15 years in total and been working in Finance & Controlling roles in the Daimler Group for around 12 years. Korea is my first assignment as an entity CFO. Before that, I was heading domestic sales controlling for BharatBenz in India for three years.

I studied International Business, holding a Master’s degree from a German university combined with a B.Sc. in Marketing from a university in the US.

Overall, my life and mindset have always been very international and open-minded to foreign cultures and people as I lived a combined 10 years of my 39 years of age outside of my home country Germany. So I am very excited to be part of the international European community in Korea and be contributing to it through my Chairpersonship.

The CFO Forum of ECCK is a cross-industry meeting platform providing valuable insights to CFOs in Korea and a great opportunity to network amongst peers. If you want to know more about the CFO Forum, please go to: ecck.or.kr/ecck-cfo-forum-invites-cfos-of-ecck-member-companies

Who are eligible to join and what to do in order to join?

The CFO Forum is targeted at all CFOs of European Multinational Companies. MNEs who are not yet member of the ECCK may join the chamber, become part of the CFO Forum and other suitable industry-relevant committees. For IT-topics of the CFO Forum, we may invite the CIO/CTO of the companies who often have a reporting function to the CFO.

Siyoon Kim is the manager of the CFO Forum for the ECCK and is happy to welcome any new joining CFO and provide them with the necessary information to become a member. And my door is also always open for an exchange; you may find me on LinkedIn: Benjamin Banzhaf

What are the major topics CFOs are interested in?

The CFO Forum is a cross-industry forum and the topics are focused around the CFO role and its knowledge requirements. Consequentially, topics are manifold including digitalization, Korean taxation and customs, audit defense, labor law updates, risk management, transfer pricing and many more. You see that the forum provides a very diverse spectrum of topics which makes it interesting to join every session.

The highest topic interest of CFOs I perceive to be in digitalization of enterprises and finance & controlling functions, labor law, due to a rapidly changing work environment in Korea, customs and taxation, also recently influenced through COVID-19 and related government subsidies.

On September 16, ECCK hosted a CFO Forum under the theme of ‘Update in Recent Tax Law Amendments and COVID-19 Related Tax Measures’

Since your term began, what are additional efforts you have put in to improve the forum?

Even though I am primarily working in the area of finance & controlling, I have a marketing background from my studies as well. So I tried to improve the marketing of the Forum and spread word of mouth on the CFO Forum. ECCK has 360+ member companies and I am actively following up with the CFOs who have not yet joined the Forum yet.

Besides valuable content and frequent updates, the Forum offers great networking amongst highly experienced CFOs too. From this, I have benefitted myself as the “youngster” in the group. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were not able to execute the networking part to the full extent. So it was moreover an effort by Siyoon and me to keep the format running with all the added social distancing regulations. But I can proudly say that we kept the quarterly meeting cycle and were able to continuously provide value and exchange in the CFO community. Also thanks to the great support and understanding of the participating CFOs.

What are future plans for the Forum?

In general the CFO Forum is well perceived, enjoys good attendance and feedback. I want to continue this success story which started in 2012 and enable sharing of valuable information to the CFO community.

Hopefully, I can increase the attendance and exposure of the CFO Forum even further so more European MNEs benefit and get a competitive edge on latest developments relevant for the roles of their CFOs.

As highlighted by Christian Baudisch in an earlier ECCK interview, I see a potential of further cross-networking amongst ECCK platforms, for example with his ECCK Future Development Forum and the young future leader and CFO generation. Growing others and oneself has always inspired me.

On March 17, the ECCK CFO Forum held a session“Digital Transformation for Intelligent Enterprise” at The Executive Center

ABOUT Benjamin Banzhaf

CFO

Daimler Trucks Korea Ltd.,

BIO

Benjamin Banzhaf, a German citizen, works as CFO of Daimler Trucks Korea Ltd. He has been active in the automotive industry for more than 15 years in total and been working in Finance & Controlling roles in the Daimler Group for around 12 years. Since 2020, he has been elected as the new Chairperson of CFO Forum.

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