Chairman Kim Jung-tai of Hana Financial Group showed off his strong leadership in successfully persuading the labor union of Korea Exchange Bank to agree with the conditions of the bank’s merger with Hana Bank.
The chairman directly led top managers of Hana Financial Group in tough talks with the KEB union. Sometimes the meetings went deep into the night. They finally ironed out their differences with the union at the end of July and the new merged bank, KEB Hana Bank, officially opened its doors on Sept. 1 as the largest bank in Korea, with its assets totaling over 370 trillion won, creating a new era in the banking industry.
Chairman Kim said he was deeply honored to win the Luxmen Award at the 3rd Luxmen Award presentation ceremony held on Nov. 2 on the 12th floor of the Maekyung Media Group building in Seoul. The Hana Financial Group chairman got the award in recognition of his hard work to bring the merger of Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank to a successful conclusion in July, KEB Hana Bank, making it the largest privately owned commercial bank in Korea.
The chairman has tried to foster synergy among the merged banks by improving communication between executives and staff by holding a number of special events for them to mingle together and get to know each other. The special events included a camp to present an integrated vision and a mountain climbing on Pukhan Mountain near Seoul. It was hoped that those in attendance would be able to find a common bond.
“The Luxmen Award should be given to a businessman who the younger generation of businessmen want to look up to as a role model so that the award winners would be proud of their achievements and work harder so that they would be exemplary role models for the younger generations of the business people,” the chairman said. He added that he was particularly appreciative of the award and honored as he is not the owner of a business, but an employee. He said he feels a heavier responsibility that he should try harder to be a better role model for the younger generations of business people.
Following the completion of the merger of the two banks, Kim said the HFG should be a global financial group based on trust, not just scale, so that the financial group’s overseas earnings would be boosted to 40 percent by 2025.
KEB Hana Bank and affiliates such as Hana Investment and Securities will be ramping up their overseas operations. Hana Bank’s ability to manage assets and Korea Exchange Bank’s experience in the foreign exchange will work together to help boost the group’s overseas earnings.
Under Chairman Kim’s management, Hana Financial Group is well on its way to being a force in Korea with Hana Bank’s ability to manage assets and KEB’s know-how in foreign exchange matters are combined under one roof. They expect to dominate rival banks in those areas. Hana Investment and Securities, a new affiliate of the financial group, will also try to be a leader in the securities industry in Korea, especially in key areas such as asset management and investment banking, while expanding its operation territories into other areas of the industry.
The financial group aims to provide better quality financial services to its customers under its new financial membership program, “Hana Members,” designed to make its customers as comfortable as possible in accessing its affiliates including banks, and securities firms.
Chairman Kim, a graduate of Kyeongnam High School in Busan, also graduated from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul with B.A. in administration. He joined Seoul Bank, which was later merged with Hana Bank. He rose to a vice president of the financial group and later president of Hana Bank, before being promoted to chairman in 2012.
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