Chairman Han Dong-woo has always stressed “warm financing” as his management ideology since his inauguration as the top executive of the Shinhan Financial Group last September.

At the first executive meeting of the group he attended last year, the new chairman told the participants that financial institutions should also have a warm heart for those in financial need and should extend a helping hand.

Financial firms should do their best to generate profits, but should not be so cold-hearted that they would take away umbrellas from their customers while they are being soaked with rain. “We should extend our hands to those experiencing tough times and help them overcome the difficulties and recover their normal operations so that they can become well-to-do enough to help us to grow as our core customers,” the chairman often tells his assistants.

Last year was the initial year to lay the foundation for such management and this year is the year for the financial group to jump up the ladder of growth. The chairman had each of the eight affiliate firms of the group form a promotional unit for “warm hearted” management, along with the Warm Heart Financial Promotional Committee made up of vice presidents of the affiliated firms who will meet twice a year to check and discuss the progress of the “warm heart” financing within the group.

The committee’s first priority is to check the financial products and services of each affiliate this month and to analyze them from the side of the customers from their development to their marketing in all 14 areas. The shortages from the check ups will be supplemented so that those products and services will be able to be used in the “warm financing” management that the group is set to achieve.

Members of the committee have been making calls this month on key branches of Shinhan Bank and affiliates spread around the country to meet with staff and hear what their problems are, if any, and to hear their ideas on improving their services and financial products to be more suitable to their customers in line with the group’s “warm financing” management. 

In the meantime, President Suh Jin-won of Shinhan Bank said he will push “warm financing” in managing the bank’s operation this year, which will aim at upgrading the bank’s brand image a step.

Suh said “warm financing,” the new motto declared by Chairman Han Dong-woo of Shinhan Financial Group last year, means they will help financially troubled businesses and individuals by seeking them out before they come to the bank, with SMEs as the most important group for support.

From Jan. 1, Shinhan Bank has taken measures to cut interest rates for SME borrowers and long-term corporate borrowers by 0.5 percent as per the motto meant to strengthen the bank’s ties with its customers by helping borrowers in difficult times.

Under the CSP program, the bank has been extending the maturities of loans taken out by businesses having difficult times, and offering preferential interest rates and other support for their survival. The bank also added to the program the provision allowing the bank to turn loans into investments if borrower firms have tough times financially.

The bank’s top management priority is to tighten its operations rather than expanding profits. The bank aims to expand its assets by 5 percent this year and projects to record around 2 trillion won in net profit without much trouble since its assets are considered to be the most healthy among banks in Korea.

The bank will also strengthen its tie-ups with its affiliates such as Shinhan Asset Management in such areas as private banking and corporate investment banking in addition to expanding its overseas operations, in Indonesia in particular.