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Hana Bank CEO Park Sung-ho, right, poses with Stump Youth Foundation Director Kang Hyo-chang, left, and National Fire Agency Commissioner Lee Heung-gyo, after signing an agreement for cooperation on supporting firefighters and their families, at the bank's headquarters in downtown Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Hana Bank |
By Yoon Ja-young
Hana Bank signed an agreement to support firefighters and the children of firefighters who died on duty.
According to the bank, it signed an agreement with Stump Foundation for Youth and the National Fire Agency at the bank's headquarters in downtown Seoul, Thursday, to help support firefighters and their families.
The agreement follows a promise made by Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo while he was visiting the country's eastern coastal areas that were hit by major wildfires in March. In his first public activity after taking charge of the banking group, Ham had vowed to provide substantial support for firefighters.
For this initiative, Hana Bank and Stump Foundation for Youth, a public welfare foundation aiming to solve social problems related to teenagers as well as support their healthy growth, joined efforts with the National Fire Agency to come up with diverse support measures.
On top of providing firefighters with financial services tailored for them, the bank plans to support children of the firefighters who sacrificed their lives for the people and the country. The plan is a part of the bank's efforts to practice its mission of "Growing Together and Sharing Happiness" through financial services, thereby creating social value for its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management roadmap.
"Firefighters are our national heroes. We hope our support program for the 64,000 firefighters and their families, especially the teenaged children of the firefighters who died on duty, will set up a cornerstone to 'stand together' with them," Hana Bank CEO Park Sung-ho said.
"Hana Bank will continue fulfilling its social responsibility as a financial service provider, showing our sincerity in ESG management."
Under the agreement, firefighters will be provided with loans at low interest rates as well as insurance protecting them against death and injuries inflicted while on duty. The bereaved families of the firefighters, meanwhile, will receive financial support as well as diverse programs such as a "healing camp" for teenagers.