Hana Financial chief attends CES amid rise of digital finance

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, second from right, watches OLED screens set up at LG Electronics' booth on the sidelines of this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 5. Courtesy of Hana Financial Group

By Lee Min-hyung

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo attended the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to discuss the future of digital finance amid the big blur era between conventional industries and finance, the group said Sunday.

The Hana chief visited the event venue in Las Vegas with a group of 20 young officials from its key affiliates, to catch up on the latest digital trends and seek new business opportunities in digital finance with overseas partners there.

“It is very meaningful for me and our young staff to attend the world's largest tech and innovation fair,” Ham said. “We expect our staff to join hands together to achieve our group-wide vision of 'finance connected as one for all,'” he said.

Ham visited the booth of Asleep, an AI-powered sleep-tracking software startup, in which Hana invested in. The company focused on Asleep's growth potential, as the group can attract more users to its financial app once it incorporates the sleep-tracking service into its financial app.

In Korea, the major financial holding firms are intensifying their rivalry in the digital transformation race at a critical time in which more people are using mobile banking. Ham also took a tour of the booths of diverse companies that are displaying the future direction of digitalization.

In his New Year's address, Ham urged his staff to remain more aggressive in expanding the group's footing in the digital arena by strengthening existing and new partnerships and making more investments in future-oriented and digital-driven businesses.