Striving to be Leading Bank
- Hana Bank records 1.3 tln won in net profit in 2004, the largest in its history

President Kim Jong-yeol of Hana Bank, in his inaugural statement as head of the leading commercial bank in the country, said he will strive to make Hana Bank to win the competition among its rival banks and become leading financial institution in the country.
The new CEO said what Hana should do from now is win the battle to become a leading bank in the country. He will see that the bank to make quantitative growth to the extent that other banks would not be able to catch up with Hana in the competition for becoming a leading bank in the country.
He said, "Hana should be a leading bank in both quality and quantity," in the statement to show off his determination both at home and abroad.
Hana Bank recorded over 1.3 trillion won in net profit last year, the largest in its history thanks to the synergistic effect from its merger with Seoul Bank. The bank's ROA improved to 1.66 percent last year from 0.68 percent in the previous year with ROE jumping to 33.03 percent from 18.07 percent. The ration of non-performing assets fell to 1.44 percent from 1.98 percent in 2003.
He said banking service should be diversified to cope with various needs of customers, which is the factor that will determine the winner for the battle for leadership. What they need is a financial holding company to build a financial network centered around a bank, which will play the role of building an effective connection system for synergistic effect among affiliates.
To this end, he said, he will reorganize the bank to make retail and wholesale banking two pillars of its operations, eliminating the position of senior vice president.
Recalling that the financial crisis in 1979 developed due to the lack of dynamism and effectiveness of our society caused by equal reimbursement, he said, he will see that chances and reimbursement are fair and based on the result of the ongoing consulting, he will expand the performance system to give dynamism to the bank's operations.
To raise the bank's competitive edge, he said the bank should boost the effectiveness of individual employees, systems and process and corporations, adding that investment in personnel development would be made on ongoing basis to refine the skills of individual employees.
Saying that traditional value of a enterprise can withstand the changes of time and environment, he promised to preserve independence, autonomy, progressive entrepreneurial spirit, customer driven, market driven and performance driven management ideals.
Hana Bank, which has continued profitable operation for 34 years in a row paying dividends since its launching has also set up a tradition for the development of the country's financial industry of a peaceful transition of its leadership with President Kim taking over the helm of the bank smoothly from his predecessor Kim Seung-yoo.
If the period of management by former presidents Yoon Byung-chul and Kim Seung-yoo can be termed the first period of management, the new president can be said to have started the second period of management butting heads with rival banks both at home and abroad to be a leading bank. The selection of the new CEO shows the change in the bank's strategy for a big jump ahead in search of a new vision with a relatively young CEO who is barely past his 50s in age.
Hana Bank, although its been only over 10 years since its birth as a commercial bank, it has grown big enough to compete with larger banks for leadership in the banking community in the country. The bank has gone through a number of M & As with other financial institutions to be where it is today and the new president has always played a key role in those large transactions.
He had been the headquarter manager for Hana when it took over Chungchong Bank and Boram Bank in 1998 and 1999 respectively playing a leading role in the transactions.
In 2002, he was put in charge of the bank's merger planning team poised to take over Seoul Bank. His strong push and leadership a played key role in completing the merger in mere three months.
He entered the financial industry when he joined the Korea Investment and Trust Co. as a clerk in 1978 and has now become the head of a major commercial bank. nw