Financial group heads boost offshore investor relations efforts
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong, right, and Anthony Gutman, co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International, pose during a meeting in London, May 20 (local time). Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group
Heads of Korea’s leading financial groups are rushing to fortify offshore investor relations (IR) efforts in a move to accelerate portfolio diversification and attract a strong inflow of foreign investments, market watchers said Monday.
Propelling the collective move is the rapid saturation of the tightly regulated domestic market amid fierce competition.
Also at play is a growing need to demonstrate strong commitment from the top decision maker, reinforced by increasing foreign stakes in financial entities’ shares, reaching up to 70 percent of the total.
According to the financial industry, Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong is on a trip to Indonesia and Hong Kong through Friday.
He plans to meet with overseas investors and will be briefed on the group’s global businesses.
During the Hong Kong meeting, the chair will give presentations to major shareholders as well as global institutional investors.
Central to his first solo IR activity is the group’s recent acquisition of Tongyang Life ABL Life, the much-drawn-out merger Woori needed to bolster the nonbanking business.
The total combined assets of Tongyang and ABL stood at around 53 trillion won ($38 billion) as of March.
The joined forces of the two will translate into the fifth-largest market player by asset size after Samsung, Kyobo, Hanwha and Shinhan.
Whether the life insurance business will thrive to outgrow Woori Aviva Life remains to be seen. Woori sold off the Aviva entity in 2014 to NH NongHyup Group and has since remained lukewarm about acquiring a life insurance firm.
Yim plans to highlight the significance of the acquisitions as well as the launch of the group’s brokerage subsidiary this year.
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong had similar IR activities in London, Frankfurt and Warsaw last week.
He addressed the country’s upcoming presidential election as well as U.S. trade and tariff uncertainties — areas of major investor concern — compounded by months of political uncertainty since then-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration in December last year.
Jin reiterated his commitment to bolstering the group’s return on equity by 50 basis points. Its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio will come to at least 13.1 percent with a shareholder return of at least 42 percent, he added. The CET1 ratio measures a financial firm's highest-quality capital relative to risk-weighted assets and is a gauge of its financial strength.
Jin met with Goldman Sachs executives, including Anthony Gutman, co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International, to discuss asset management, investment banking and wealth management strategies.
In February, Jin visited Japan to meet with major institutional investors, including Daiwa Securities and Mizuho.
Hwang Byung-woo, iM Financial Group chairman, visited Boston, New York and Chicago from May 19-23 to meet with overseas shareholders and investors.
BNK Financial Group Chairman Bin Dae-in is also expected to visit Singapore and Hong Kong later this month to share the group’s value-up initiatives with overseas investors.