Hana Financial Group Embraces New Year with Commitments for Better Future

On Jan. 11, Hana Financial Group held a traditional rice cake sharing event to spread warmth to neighbors in need. Chairman Ham talks with employees’ children while making rice cakes.

On Jan. 2, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-ju delivered a New Year’s address to all employees, urging them to work with more urgency than anyone else in 2025.

“When morning breaks in Africa, gazelles run with all their might because they know if they run later than the fastest lion, the lion will hunt them down. Similarly, lions know that if they cannot run faster than the slowest gazelle, they will starve to death, so they run as hard as they can. This kind of morning will come in the financial market, too.”

First of all, Ham pointed to the Daycare Center Construction Project, which has cost 150 billion won over the past six years.

“I thought it was a worthwhile challenge if it could help solve our national challenges of low birthrates and rural depopulation,” Ham said.

“Last year, we successfully wrapped up the Daycare Center Construction Project with the completion of the 100th center in Bonghwa-gun of North Gyeongsang Province.”

“Hana Financial Group faithfully implemented programs worth about 350 billion won including cuts in loan interest, fees and guarantees and providing office space rental fees for young entrepreneurs, and money for energy costs for marginalized people,” Ham said.

“We also pumped up our efforts for our established win-win financing programs such as low-interest loans for small business owners and interest rate cuts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in crisis. Therefore, we did our best to fulfill our social responsibilities as a corporate citizen.”

The stock market’s valuation of Hana Financial Group also changed a great deal. Its stock price closed at 56,000 won on Dec. 30, the last trading day of 2024, up 32.7 percent from 42,800 won at the beginning of the year.

Hana Financial Group celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Over the past 20 years, Hana Financial has grown into a global financial group with 14 subsidiaries covering all financial businesses, 26 regions and a network of 221 branches and offices around the world.

On Jan. 17, Hana Financial Group held a CEO meeting with Bain Capital at Hana Financial Group’s headquarters in Seoul. Chairman Ham and John Connaughton, co-managing partner of Bain Capital poses for a photo. (Photos: Hana Financial Group)

“We are now at an important crossroads to build on these achievements and move toward becoming a centennial company,” Ham stressed.

“To ensure our survival in a rapidly changing financial environment and fierce competition, it is essential to harmonize the interests of all stakeholders. Our top priority is to secure sustainable value creation capabilities.”

“We need to take a sober look at whether or not our capacities have grown as much as our asset size and portfolio have,” Ham continued.

As for mergers and acquisitions, Ham stressed that M&A should be a strategic choice to maximize returns through efficient capital allocation in Hana Financial Group’s portfolio, not just a way to grow in size. Ham showed his will that Hana Financial Group will grow for itself for the time being.

“Without a foundation for sustainable growth, M&A deals are not only unnecessary, but can cause serious burdens and risks to Hana Financial Group,” Ham explained.

“In the end, what matters is what we have learned at great cost in the M&A market and with what mindset we will have, act, and move forward through what we have learned.”

In the face of the ongoing economic downturn, growing internal and external uncertainties, and societal structural challenges such as Korea’s aging population and declining birthrate, Ham cited strengthening the competitiveness of the financial group’s core businesses as a way to deal with the issues and stay afloat.

Ham suggested boosting efficiency through customized strategies by region and country, expanding business areas, and diversifying revenue sources by making a foray into the non-banking sector in the global market as key tasks for 2025.

“Given a recent deregulation of virtual assets and the trend of revitalizing virtual asset systems in the United States, we have to make endeavors to flexibly respond to the current changing environment in order to preemptively utilize a flow of changes by making thorough preparations with open minds,” Ham emphasized.

In the meantime, Ham has been re-elected to lead the group for another three years. His new term ends in March 2028.

Hana Financial Group announced on Jan. 30 that the Chairman Candidate Recommendation Committee recommended Ham as a finalist for the next chairman on Jan. 27.

The committee had previously shortlisted three internal candidates and two external candidates. On July 27, they held in-depth interviews on entrepreneurship and management strategies before finally tapping Ham as the final candidate.