Hana's move to erase KEB hits snag

The KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap

By Park Jae-hyuk

KEB Hana Bank is facing a severe backlash from its labor union for its recent decision to remove “KEB” from its brand name, according to industry officials, Sunday.

The unionists allege this is in violation of the agreement signed with the former Korea Exchange Bank union in 2015, when the two banks merged.

The management said the brand name “Hana Bank” will be used starting Monday.

The banking unit of Hana Financial Group cited possible confusion with KB Kookmin Bank as a reason for the decision.

“Because of the 'KEB' in our brand name, most of our customers have been aware of our merger with the Korea Exchange Bank, but we took the difficulty with pronouncing KEB and possible confusion with another bank using English initials into account,” the bank said.

The labor union, however, is protesting the decision.

“The name, KEB Hana Bank, is intended to respect the Korea Exchange Bank's brand equity,” the union said. “The unilateral decision without agreement is a violation of the agreement between labor and management.”

The union also warned of legal action against management.

In 2015, Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai agreed with the former Korea Exchange Bank union that the united bank would include “Exchange” or “KEB” in its name.

This has helped KEB Hana Bank expand overseas, because the Korea Exchange Bank that had wider global networks was popular with customers in other countries.

Against this backdrop, KEB Hana Bank said its official corporate name will be unchanged.

“We will continue to use the name of KEB Hana Bank when signing deals with other companies,” its spokesman said. “The changing of the brand name means that KEB will be removed from signboards on our branches here and overseas.”

Since the merger with the Korea Exchange Bank, Hana Financial Group has removed all vestiges of the former KEB.

In 2017, all KEB Hana Bank employees began wearing badges decorated with the logo of Hana Financial Group.

Hana also sold the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters building in Euljiro, downtown Seoul, to Booyoung Group that year.