Hana Financial Group has concluded strategic tie-ups with both Japanese and Chinese financial investment firms in preparation of expanded international operations after its merger with Korea Exchange Bank is made official early next year.
The group announced that it has signed a cooperative agreement with Mitsui-Sumitomo Trust Group on Dec. 11 with 381 trillion won in assets. The cooperative tie-up was initially in the negotiation stages between their affiliates, but they decided to boost it to a group-level agreement, affecting the entire groups.
Under the agreement, the two financial groups will exchange information on M&As overseas, and make joint investments, investments in overseas real estate and joint sale of funds, exchange information on the economies of each other’s country, and changes in laws and regulations, and exchange of talented manpower between the two financial groups, among others.
The group also concluded a tie-up agreement with the largest private investment firm in China, China Minsheng Investment Corp, on Dec. 4 providing for the exchange of information on M&As in Korea and overseas, and IPOs, industrial information in Korea and China, information on market prospects in both countries and regulations. The Chinese civilian investment firm has total assets of 8.1 trillion won with investments in 59 companies in China.
Financial sources said Hana Financial Group has already been getting ready for the operation of the merged bank of Hana and KEB overseas, in particular, as seen in the two major provisions in tie-up agreements concerned with M&A's and investments.
Chairman Kim Jung-tai said no domestic financial institutions launched overseas operations without conducting M&As and still able to grow and the group will make daring moves in its overseas operations making investments with their increased funds from the merger. The officials of the group said they have a target to earn around 40 percent of the group’s earnings from overseas, meaning they must expand overseas operations significantly.
They should, first of all, find investment targets outside of overseas Korean communities to increase earnings in truest sense of the words, taking advantage of tie-up agreements with the two financial groups, one in China and the other in Japan. The essence of the financial industry is trust. “Hana Financial Group is doing its best to achieve the happiness of its clients, because we know that it is only through the true satisfaction of its clients that a financial company can built trust,” the company said.
“Hana Financial Group will create a strong foundation of trust with all stakeholders as well as with society in general,” Chairman Kim said in his statement on the group’s homepage.“We will continue to research changing trends to stay one step ahead of the competition and provide products and services requested by our customers. In a constantly changing market, we will dedicate the energy and spirit of HFG to creating the financial products that customers truly desire.” Hana Financial Group has the largest global network of all Korean financial institutions, but it will not allow itself to become complacent in this fortunate position. It will move on to become a leading player in the new global financial market as well as a name that represents Korea on the world stage. “We will transform HFG into a truly global power player through a glocalization strategy that accepts and adapts to local culture and works toward partnered growth,” according to the company.
