Chairman Han Dong-woo of Shinhan Financial Group said he will lead the financial group to turn around its strategy of pursuing only profits to one that will also carry out social contributions along with profits, thus “catching two rabbits at one time.”

At a ceremony celebrating the group’s 11th anniversary on Sept. 3, the chairman said in his commemorative speech that they should reflect on whether they have been too focused on the creation of synergy to generate excellent financial results and instead go for creating synergy that is customer oriented.

Han, pointed out that Wall Street is being subjected to both criticism and envy, and that they have to overcome these kinds of challenges and continuously pursue compassionate financing strenuously. “We have to pursue ‘compassionate profits’ both beneficial to the group and customers,” warning that synergy without seeing the customer as a priority would not be sustainable for long.

He called on every officer and staff member to study every practice and work of the group even if they don’t have regulatory problems and normal practices seen from the side of customers. 

On relationships with supplier firms and partners, the chairman said trust and mutual survival should be part of the basis of relationships with them.

Han always told the officers and staff that just sharing profits with society is not enough as a social contribution system. “We should both pursue profits and social contribution at the same time,” he said.

Shinhan Financial Group plans to hold finance and economy classes for people in various sectors of society as part of its social services, the group announced on June 25.

The group said it will provide the financial education free of charge to various classes of people in the country in answer to calls for increased social responsibility of financial companies amid the global financial crisis.

Han said the financial group has been practicing “compassionate financing” to benefit society and the financial education program, too, is also a way for the financial group to benefit society. “We will continue to implement the social service programs positively in the days ahead as a means to keep society warm,” Han said.

The group intends to build a base for the future growth of the nation’s financial competitive power by providing financial education to people across the country, which will become the group’s representative social contribution service.

The financial group has been working on the plan by launching a task force for the financial education program with selected personnel from each affiliate of the group to make the event a group-wide exercise from next March.

As the first step in the move, a meeting took place on June 25 for lecturers at Shinhan Bank’s head office in Taepyeong-ro, downtown Seoul, to discuss their roles and education contents for the financial classes. The special financial lessons will be provided to around 50,000 people from all strata of society annually, which will go far in enhancing the nation’s financial competitiveness.

The lecturers’ group is made of 86 from the bank, 20 from the card company, and four from other parts of the group for a total of 110. All of them have extensive experience in financial sector businesses, with many of them qualified to be college professors, the group said.

The subjects of the lectures will not only include financial education, but also some special and unique contents taken from the financial affiliates’ operations to make the special education offering a great success. The education programs will include the specific financial operations in the investment, life insurance, credit card, and banking sectors.