Hana Financial going global to leap forward

Employees from Hana Financial Group's overseas operations pose while attending “2023 Hana Culture Global Workshop” held at Hana Global Campus in Cheongna, Incheon, Jan. 30. Courtesy of Hana Financial Group

By Sah Dong-seok

As part of its efforts to take a leap forward beyond the boundaries of finance, Hana Financial Group is striving to go global. It has a dual global strategy by region to maintain its outstanding global business performances and solidify its presence as a leading global financial group.

On the one hand, the group is entering high-growth markets, such as Southeast Asia, through mergers and acquisitions and equity investment, focusing on the non-banking sector. In advanced markets such as the United States and Europe, Hana Financial is setting its sights on boosting sales by strengthening investment banking (IB) and corporate finance and forging strategic partnerships.

Specifically, the group set up Hana Asset Management Asia (HAMA) in Singapore last year. HAMA is expected to be nurtured as its asset management hub in Southeast Asia under a plan to invest in various alternative assets, a move aimed at diversifying the group's revenue sources. HAMA will be encouraged to form partnerships with local asset management firms.

A rendering of the Hana Financial Group Cheongna group headquarters to be built in Cheongna, Incheon, which was selected as a winner of the Innovation by Design Awards 2022 / Courtesy of Hana Financial Group

In September 2022, Hana Securities completed acquiring a 35 percent stake in BIDV Securities Company (BSC), a subsidiary of BIDV, Vietnam's largest state-run bank, and became the brokerage firm's second-largest shareholder and strategic partner. Hana Financial has a plan to nurture it to become one of Vietnam's top three securities firms by encouraging forays into new businesses such as asset management.

In America and Europe, Hana Financial is also focusing on strategic partnerships in the non-banking sector. Toward that end, IB desks are in operation in New York, London, Singapore and Sydney to help strengthen the group's global competitiveness.

Its globalization efforts have paid off. As of the end of last year, it had operations in 25 regions around the world, the largest number ever by any Korean financial group, and its global channels numbered 206, hiring 4,500 personnel.

Foreign teenagers invited by Hana Bank to get a glimpse into global financing pose at a dealing room at the bank's headquarters in downtown Seoul in this November 2022 file photo. Courtesy of Hana Bank

What is most notable is that Hana became the first Korean financial group to open a branch in Taipei in April last year. Two months later, it began offering loans in Indonesia through LINE Bank, a mobile platform-based digital subsidiary. In July 2022, Hana Capital opened an office in Yangon, Myanmar, in its preemptive action to enter the non-banking financial sector there.

As a result of these endeavors, Hana Financial continued to chalk up handsome gains through its overseas operations. Its overseas income rose at an average annual rate of 15 percent over the last four years. Last year's overseas income amounted to 712.7 billion won ($532 million), up 25.6 billion won from 2021, despite economic uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.