Hana union calls boss dictator

By Kim Jae-won

Hana Financial Group Chairman, who has pulled the biggest deal of his life by acquiring the Korea Exchange Bank, is facing a growing call for his resignation by its union.

Employees demonstrated in front of the group’s headquarters in downtown Seoul.

Hana’s labor union argues Kim is a tyrant, driving the bank into the ground.

“Chairman Kim is leading the banking group in a dictatorial manner,” said union leader Kim Chang-keun, Thursday. He said that Kim uses a divide-and-rule tactic in order to oppress the union members, thus creating a wage gap among them. He wants Kim to narrow the gap or step down.

The union leader claimed Kim still possesses the mindset of the loan shark he was when he first worked in the financial industry. “Hana originally came from a short-term investment finance company, which is a certified loan shark.”

Hana Financial originally started from Korea Investment Finance, a short-term finance company established in 1971. The company advanced to the banking business in 1991 changing its name to its current title, Hana Bank.

The union also criticized Hana Financial’s matrix management, which Kim introduced to the firm in March 2008, and has been used as a measure to pit employees against each other.

Under Kim’s management system, Hana is divided into two upper-class non-household finance operations and lower-class household operations.

“Employees in the non-household finance group get paid more than the other group, so it remains an obstacle for employees to cooperate,” the union leader said. He also claimed Hana Financial also discriminates employees by their region of birth.

The union complained of the lender’s low salaries, compared to its competitors. The average annual salary of Hana Bank employees was 48 million won last year, the least among big four lenders, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Shinhan Bank paid the most in terms of average wages at 58.3 million won, followed by Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank, which reported 56.6 million and 56.2 million won, respectively.

About 4,500 employees of Hana Bank demonstrated at the lender’s headquarters in downtown Seoul, Wednesday evening.