Strong in PB Sector

Hana Bank wisely pioneers private banking business to tap the wealthy to serve their various financial needs

Hana Financial Group(HFG) holds a vision and strategy, calling for its becoming a leader in East Asia with its first-rate customer-focused business network.
It includes pursuit of customer satisfaction as a financial partner and employee endowment as a great work place.
The objectives are based on the fact that the group will build and continue to maintain a premier financial service network. Maximize shareholders value as a business partner, making contribution to community as a leading financial institution. It plans to lift itself to be a leading financial group in East Asia and Asia-based global financial group counted among the top 50 financial institutions in Asia with global competitiveness by 2015.
HFG began its asset management business for wealthy clients even before the concept of private banking was introduced, and was the first domestic business to adopt a private banking model.
Its efforts to build a private banking model unique to Korea have made Hana Bank the most favored financial institution among the wealthy. It was also selected as the best private bank in Korea by Euromoney for five consecutive years.
High Net Worth customers (i.e. those with bank deposits of 500 million won or more), have a wide range of financial needs. To satisfy needs, the Group provides optimized products and services in collaboration with affiliates like Hana Daetoo Securities , UBS Hana Asset Management, Hana IB Securities and Hana HSBC Life Insurance.
Hana Bank is the favored financial institution among the wealthy due to its solid reputation and years of knowhow. According to research submitted to the National Assembly during its oversight of the government in 2005, 35.2 percent of Koreans with bank accounts of 1 billion won or more were clients of Hana Bank. The share of High Net Worth customers out of the entire clients bse of Hana Bank amounts to only 0.2 percent, yet they account for 38.3 percent of the bank's total assets.
HFG operates 17 Gold clubs private banking centers providing asset management services for High Net Worth customers. These are mostly located in upscale neighborhoods and equipped with private consultation rooms, customer seminar rooms and safe-deposit boxes as part of their high-end services
The enforcement of the Capital Market Integration Act from Feb. 4 is expected to bring radical changes to the financial system and markets. It is expected that fee-based investment consulting/management activities are allowed in the private banking sector by 2010. HFG made a series of internal changes in 2008.
2008 was a busy year for all international financial markets, including the Korean financial market with regards to the economic crisis. Following such financial turmoil the bleak outlook on the economy forecasts a stagnation of global stock market and economic depression.
Facing a continuous deterioration of global financial conditions Korean market recorded a foreign dependency of 76.1 percent and in November of 2008, it marked a negative growth in exports and predicted next year's economic growth to cease at 2 percent.
The financial industry saw a blurring of boundaries with ever fiercer competition between sectors due to in part the forthcoming implementation of the Capital Market Consolidation Law. Amidst the recovery of domestic consumption and the reinforced propensity toward individual investments, the direct financing market was thrust into the limelight, and financial institutions were embroiled in a fierce competition to secure their territory in the financial investment business.
Under such circumstances, HFG focused its efforts on sales in non-banking sectors, such as beneficiary certificates and credit cards, believing that excessive competition in asset growth might lead to deteriorating profitability and liquidity amid interest rate hikes and the rapid movement of money from bank deposits to equity funds in 2007.
Bracing itself against competition from non-banking financial institutions and possible market volatility, HFG paved the way with the diversification of profit sources.
HFG posted 8.65 percent growth in assets from 128 trillion won in 2006 to 139 trillion won in 2007, with sales of indirect products rising more than 20 percent for two years running, and the total number of credit cardholders showed a 48.53 percent increase over the previous year. The group posted a net income of 1,298.1 billion won in 2007, a 26.43 percent YoY rise, thus topping 1 trillion won in net income for two consecutive years. nw

President & CEO Kim Jong-tae of Hana Bank holds the Best Private Bank award presented to the bank by Euromoney. Hana Bank won the award for five years in a row last year.