Cho, Sohn share love for fintech

By Park Hyong-ki

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung and Woori Financial Group Chairman Sohn Tae-seung are aggressively moving to restructure their organizations by using external resources, industry sources said Wednesday.

Sohn Tae-seung

This comes as both have said there was a limit to achieving innovation with internal human resources deeply ingrained with finance DNA.

Woori chief Sohn has said he has been frustrated every time the company has merely reshuffled its own employees without employing outside professionals.

Shinhan Chairman Cho Yong-byoung has also said the company will need to seek human resources outside of the banking sector if it wants to change and become sustainable.

To this end, they have set up new divisions concentrating on digital transformation, as well as both in-house venture teams and external startup centers.

Woori Financial has brought in Noh Jin-ho, former chief executive of Hancom, as the group's new chief information officer and the head of the new ICT unit.

Cho Yong-byoung

Shinhan and Hancom, a local Korean word processor developer, have strategic ties to pursue smart city projects in Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam. The two will also collaborate on developing new digital businesses in the region using blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies.

“Not only Shinhan and Woori, but also KB Financial is keen on changing by using external forces such as fintech startups,” a bank industry source said.

Shinhan Future's Lab is considered the group's test bed where it will work with startups to maximize their creativity and play with their ideas to develop new business models.

Woori has DinnoLab, housing fintech startups.

Both have nearly 100 startups in their accelerator programs, providing advice on how to commercialize their technologies, sell their companies and launch an initial public offering after achieving growth.