Chairman Kim Jung-tae of Hana Financial Group.(Photo: HFG)

Chairman Kim Jung-tae of Hana Financial Group has been stressing the importance of investment banking (IB), urging the heads of the group’s affiliates not to be afraid of risks in expanding the IB operation.

At a dinner in early August with the executives and key officials in the sectors of affiliated banks and securities companies, he told them he would like to see a healthy uptick in business.

Saying that the banking sector’s support would create synergy among the group’s affiliates with IB operations, he called on them to do their best to boost the growth of the business, as it is the sector that the group wants to foster.

The chairman had seven staff reassigned to the group’s IB business sector to show the importance of the banking business, and as a result of the chairman’s moves, the group’s IB sector has been showing an improvement in its operation. KEB Hana Bank has been managing the Hanon System’s takeover with financing amounting to some 2 trillion won, which has been attracting many investors. Hana Financial Investment lead-managed the financing for the sale of Kyungnam Energy early this year.

Hana Financial saw the monthly average operating profit from investment banking rise to 6 billion won, up 71.5 percent YoY from 3.5 billion won in the same period last year. In the area of “replacement investments,” the group managed the financing for a U.S. multi-thermal power plant while ranking third in the area of ABS market lead manager. Chairman Kim said the group will push its overseas operations with the IT Co. set up in Indonesia and the Group Integrated Data Center as the base for its overseas operation, with Fintech in the center, adding that synergy in the IB sector has to be boosted to make the group’s financial activities expand.

South Korea’s SK Telecom and Hana Financial Group have formed a joint venture (JV) agreement to develop and launch a mobile financial services platform. The firms say the deal combines SK Telecom’s mobile technologies and big data analytics with Hana Financial Group’s experience in financial products and mobile financial services.

Kim Jung-tae, chairman of Hana Financial Group, says the JV will also “work closely with start-ups to build an open fintech ecosystem.”

The two companies will establish Hana-SK Fintech Corporation (a tentative name for the JV) with a capital stock of 50 billion won ($44.7 million). Under the agreement, SK Telecom will hold a 49 percent equity stake, with Hana Financial Group holding the remaining 51 percent.

When launched, the platform will offer a variety of mobile financial services such as payments, remittance and asset management through a single mobile app. 

They plan to launch the platform in the first half of 2017. Both firms will also look at international partnerships to “expand” their fintech services to the global market. This includes “nurturing” start-ups to help develop ideas from an early stage. The fintech scene in South Korea is looking active.

The government is launching an open platform designed to let firms develop and test apps for personal finance management.

The nation’s banking sector is getting a shake up with two digital-only banks applying for regulatory approval in the second half of this year. IBM and SK Holdings C&C, a South Korean IT services company, are planning to bring IBM’s Watson cognitive technology language services to the country’s banking space.

Korea Exchange, the securities exchange operator, also announced plans to launch a platform powered by blockchain to liven up the off-board trading market.