Chairman Kim Jung-tai of Hana Financial Group said in his New Year's speech the key word that is most often repeated inside the group has been “digital,” not “deposits,” “interest rates” or “services,” demonstrating that the age has arrived for financial business firms to compete with non-financial firms outside the financial industry. The financial institutions now have to come up with strategies based on digital finance to make up ground on the competition. With the advancement of ICT, he is convinced that banks are currently suffering from a “digital gap.” 

The group set up cell units in all of its new projects to streamline the decision-making process. The cell chiefs are fully responsible for the projects they are undertaking. Personnel for cells can either be divided up or join together depending on the nature of the projects that are assigned to them.

The results from the new projects completed by the cells are coming up one after another. KEB Hana Bank announced on Feb. 28 that the countries that can receive the 1Q Transfer have been expanded to 15 from just five thanks to the rising popularity of the new Fintech-type fund transfer service. It needs no bank names and account numbers with the fund transfer made with hand phones. The receivers of the fund transfers get messages on their hand phones and then decide on the way they want to get the funds. The bank plans to expand the number of countries where the 1Q Transfers can be made to 85 by the end of the year.

The text banking has also been getting very good responses from the customers since its launch in November, last year. The new fund transfer service is done with text messages on hand phones or voice recognition as a “conversation-type fund transfer” service.

An advantage for text banking include a shorter time to complete transfers compared to other transfer services, such as mobile banking and Fintech-type services.

Customers can transfer up to 3 million won daily if their account numbers are registered as members of text banking at the 1Q Bank operated by KEB Hana Bank. 

Until now, the new fund transfer service has been limited to fund remittance, but the bank plans to expand it to other areas, including commodity sales and the financial consultation.

Online overseas marketing infrastructure from Global 1Q Bank has also been expanding fast, following its initial operation in Canada in January 2015; then in China in May 2016; then in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan in a move by the bank to continue to expand the number of the countries for its new fund transfer service overcoming the shortcomings of the service as an offline one.

An eye-catching achievement among the bank’s moves to expand the service globally was an agreement that the bank signed with seven Fintech startups and launched the 1Q Lab 4th Term. The 1Q Lab is the mentoring center for Fintch startups that the bank launched in June 2015, the first in the banking community.

Fintech startups deemed to be qualified after getting mentoring are required to present their business ideas, and the bank will either make a direct investment in their new business projects or introduce them to other investors. Sometimes they become joint venture partners with the bank and move overseas with their business projects. 

Hana Financial Group, one of the largest bank holding companies in Korea, has announced that it has joined the R3 CEV group to apply and standardize innovative financial technologies.

The R3 blockchain consortium has been leading financial institutions. Members include Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, UBS and many more.

According to a report, Hana Financial has joined the consortium in order to apply emerging blockchain technology into services such as global transactions and security protection. Hana Financial believes that decentralized storage of financial information and records using blockchain technology can prevent hacking and manipulation.

Established in 2005, Hana Financial Group is expanding its global presence through its combined overseas network, the largest in Korea. It contributes to the development of the financial industry by formulating sound management and growth strategies for its subsidiaries KEB Hana Bank, Hana Financial Investment, Hana Savings Bank, and BNB Hana Bank, all dealing with product sales; KEB Hana Card, the investment banking division of Hana Financial Investment, Hana Life, Hana Capital, and Hana Asset Trust, all dealing with product development; the Hana Institute of Finance, the group's think tank; and Hana I&S, the IT-services unit.