Hana Financial Group, one of South Korea’s top five financial conglomerates, is actively exploring mergers and acquisitions in non-banking sectors to identify new growth drivers. Chairman and CEO Ham Young-joo shared this strategic direction during the CEO Summer Forum hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).
“We are reviewing M&As in non-banking sectors to explore new growth drivers,” Ham stated. “While reinforcing our core businesses, we will uncover new opportunities through partnerships and acquisitions.”
Hana Financial has established collaborations with major Korean tech companies like Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp. to discover innovative business ventures. Additionally, the group is working on creating a platform for trading securities token offerings.
Despite regulatory challenges, Ham remains optimistic about investment opportunities in the fintech and Big Tech sectors. Hana Financial’s alliance with SK Group includes forming an AI council for joint projects and launching the AI Startup Lab to accelerate AI startups. They are also developing an advanced credit rating model leveraging telecommunications and financial data.
In 2022, Hana Financial pioneered 24-hour foreign exchange trading in Korea. Recently, Hana Bank, its flagship retail banking unit, introduced a comprehensive inheritance management service, marking another industry first.
Under Ham’s leadership since 2022, Hana Financial has focused on expanding non-banking ventures. The group’s financial performance has seen improvement, with the cost-to-income ratio (CIR) dropping to 38.7% in 2023 from over 50% in 2022, reflecting enhanced operational efficiency.
Despite a slight dip in net profit to 3.45 trillion won ($2.5 billion) last year, primarily due to losses in its brokerage arm’s overseas real estate investments, Hana Bank achieved a record profit of 3.48 trillion won, driven by a surge in non-interest income. Ham’s strategic vision continues to position Hana Financial as a leader in financial innovation and diversification.
