By Kim Tong-hyung
Shinhan Bank CEO Suh Jin-won is the unlikeliest kind of straight talker. The soft-spoken 61-year-old with short, straight hair and the build of a librarian is noticeable right away for his dry wit and self-depreciating humor, which one could only imagine adds to his personal appeal as he crisscrosses the world of businessmen and customers.
But despite the disarming style, it’s also obvious that Suh is a man who will talk from the hips.
He is short on cliches, shorter still on conventional wisdom and apparently missed the class on evading difficult questions with bland, corporate blather in CEO 101. Suh is as charming as they come for a banker, but he will also assure you he is not trying to win any popularity contests.
To put it simply, Suh has a clear idea of who he is and who he needs to be. And he is more than willing to talk about this openly, without holding any illusions over what he does.
Among the many agendas he oversees, the veteran banker places top priority on internationalizing his workforce while maintaining Shinhan’s unique corporate culture. This is because he believes that a strong internal workforce must go hand in hand with efforts to globalize.
Against this backdrop, Suh is reworking the company’s hiring policies and employee training programs. Global branches will be increasingly relying on local talent.
In an interview with The Korea Times, the chief executive said that the company is providing a wealth of language classes and education programs for mid-level managers and up, as many of them are expected to serve crucial roles in Shinhan’s expanding international business.
Suh claimed that, even through recent turmoil, the unique strength of Shinhan’s corporate culture remained intact among the employees working below the executive suites. Shinhan’s core strength has always come from the personal qualities of its employees, Suh said, whether it be the cohesiveness they show as a business organization or the attentive way they interact with customers.
Now, the challenge is to build on these strengths as banking continues to adopt mediums such as computerized smart branches and mobile Internet devices.
``Shinhan has been successful with customers because we were able to be more detailed in the way we approach customers and be more quick and accurate in responding to their needs. I think this is a strength that will shine as banking moves further beyond face-to-face interactions and embraces technology,’’ Suh said.
``Whether you are talking to a teller or fingering a touch-screen device, customers will always want that same, high-level of financial services. The advancement in technology allows banks to reach out to more customers faster, but the challenge is to deliver that consistently. It really comes down to what the people can do, not the technology, and Shinhan’s people have always been the best.’’
Shinhan Bank by far has been the most effective moneymaker in Korean banking in past years and will probably continue to be for the foreseeable future, barring a dramatic industry shift or massive corporate blunder.
But Suh’s legacy as a CEO will be defined by more than just the ability to defend the bank’s title as the pound-for-pound profit king against biggest domestic rivals like KB and Woori.
Suh seems convinced that his time at the helm will be remembered mostly for efforts to leverage Shinhan’s domestic dominance into the global market. And he has no intention of failing in this endeavor.
``When you have the opportunity to travel around the world, meet businessmen and see how they are trying to take advantage of globalization and expand their business, you get a renewed sense of urgency. Shinhan has been doing some good things, but we need to do more,’’ said Suh, who gained serious air mileage points in recent months after traveling around markets and participating in international meetings like the Asia Development Bank (ADB) conference in Manilla.
``There is growing global interest in the financial markets of emerging economies, those in Southeast Asia in particular. We are thoroughly studying the governments and people in these countries as well as thinking about foreign banks and through which market sectors to approach them.
``Of course, the recent financial troubles in Europe could very well prove to have a major impact on the world economy and influence the movements in global finance, but that really doesn’t change the way we think about our target markets.’’
Shinhan has more than 60 business units in 14 foreign countries around the world and is planning to add six to seven more operations during the year. Suh talked glowingly about progress made in Asian countries such as Japan, China, Vietnam, India and Indonesia, which he identifies as the building blocks for Shinhan’s global future.
Granted, Shinhan is not the only Korean banking group that is obsessed with advancing their international business networks and generating a larger proportion of their income from overseas. But for most Korean banks, all the talk about ``going global’’ has usually been just a nice way of saying they are providing loans and other predicable financial services to Korean companies operating in those foreign locations.
Suh is looking above such low-hanging fruit. In the countries that it is allowed to, Shinhan will go beyond corporate financing and compete with local banks for depositors and other financial customers, he said.
Shinhan’s activities in Vietnam have garnered particular attention.
Late last year, the bank’s local business unit, Shinhan-Vietnam Bank, completed acquiring Shinhan Vina Bank, a 50-50 joint venture established with Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietcom Bank. The combined bank now has more than 1 trillion won in assets, making it the largest foreign banking brand in the country behind HSBC and giving Shinhan a building block for retailing banking.
Shinhan is also making strides in Vietnam's fast-growing credit card industry by launching its own services.
The next big splash for Shinhan could come from Indonesia, Suh said, where Shinhan is actively searching for merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities.
``We are seeing signs that the Indonesian government is becoming more open to foreign investors in the financial services industry, and it has come to a point where we are anticipating regulatory changes there,’’ Suh said.
``There are a number of local banks in Indonesia, which we believe could be great fits with us if we get the chance to acquire them. We are also thinking M&A in markets like Malaysia and Thailand, although nothing is specific yet.
``Make no mistake, supporting Korean companies in overseas locations is a critical part of our work. But it’s also important that we are able to use that as a base to build on our presence in both the corporate and retail banking sectors within those countries.’’