Led by President Wi Sung-ho, on Sept. 26 Shinhan Bank unveiled a mammoth “Shinhan Do Dream Project” involving 9.32 trillion won in loans and investments over 15 different projects by 2020 expected to create 120,000 jobs. The ambitious project is line with the Moon government’s productive and comprehensive financial code to revitalize the economy by focused on job creation.
President Wi said he would like to steer the bank to ease its heavy dependence on a stable of sectors, including the household finance, and take up reformative and industrial finance to expand its role in moves to boost the national economy. He made the remarks when explaining the background for the bank’s new strategy.
The bank will be at the forefront of providing financial support to the reformative and financially poor firms to help create jobs to build a “circulatory link” for mutual growth that will connect customers’ success with the bank’s growth.
The enormous project will disburse funds over 15 projects in three major areas, including a sector designed to support the creation of jobs for youths, reformative business firms to create jobs with loans and investments, and direct financial support for poor people.
Direct investments will amount to 670 billion won carved out of the 9.32 trillion won in total funds that the bank set up.
The largest chunk will go to the reformation of enterprises. The bank is set to provide 6 trillion won in loans backed up with letters of guarantees, 950 billion won for the SMEs with good potential for growth, startups and venture capital firms in loans and investments, 850 billion won for the green energy industry and lastly 900 billion won to firms that support jobs creation in cooperation with the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund and the Ministry of Labor. Shinhan Bank will set up a 100 billion won fund to support the 4th Industrial Revolution and 30 billion won to support startups and SMEs with great potential for growth.
The bank also plans to provide 300 billion won in financial support, including loans to seven projects through such financial platforms as “Shinhan Do Dream,” Shinhan Do Dream Space,” and “SoHo Do Dream Academy,” and Shinhan global channels.
The three Korean lenders have decided to extend an aggregate $100 million in loans for 20 Hudson Yards, a seven-story shopping mall $50 million by state-run KDB, $30 million by Woori and $20 million by Shinhan, according to real estate investment banking sources on July 28.
They are joining in a pool of $1.5 billion in syndicated loans for the 20 Hudson Yards project, which is estimated to cost $2.28 billion. The other lenders include Deutsche Bank, Credit Agricole, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Taiwan’s Yuanta Bank , for an annual interest rate of 5 percent.
KDB and Shinhan are also considering making $50 million loans each for 50 Hudson Yards, a 58-story office tower to be built next to 20 Hudson Yards.
If the two banks decide to provide the loans for 50 Hudson Yards, three South Korean lenders will lend a total of $200 million for the largest US private real estate development.
The Hudson Yards project is a redevelopment program for the Far West Side of Manhattan and is estimated to cost a total of $25 billion. It is aimed at expanding the Midtown Manhattan business district by building new office towers, a hotel, a large mall and residence buildings. With South Korean asset owners emerging as major players in the global capital market, they now started having access to high-yielding real estate projects in developed countries, one of the sources said.
Last year two Korean investment firms Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management and Hyundai Investments acquired 400 billion won of mezzanine debt issued to fund the construction of 10 Hudson Yards, the first building of the Hudson Yards project.
Apart from lending to the 20 and 50 Hudson Yards projects, Shinhan Bank is considering extending loans for 30 Hudson Yards, an 80-story office tower.
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