Chairman Kim Jung-tae of Hana Financial Group.

Chairman Kim Jung-tae of the Hana Financial Group will continue to push for synergy between Hana Bank and the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), which the group took over in February 2012.

Kim, on the occasion of marking his first year as chairman of the group on March 26, said there is new momentum to push for the creation of synergy between the two banks as the Hana Financial Group takes over the final 40 percent stake in KEB through a share swap. This gives the group the powe

r to steer the bank with more force than last year to create synergy between the two banking affiliates after overcoming the uncooperative labor union over various measures during the past year.

Another reason for the positive outlook is that KEB employees have been persuaded that they must cooperate with any of the bank’ s moves toward the creation of synergy as it will ultimately help them since the two banks will benefit from it. 

The chairman announced that the two banks will be independent in operation for four years, competing with each other as they have been doing with any other rival banks in Korea, while creating synergy which will benefit the group and the two banks.

During a meeting with the media on March 25, the chairman said the two banks will be managed under three major principles. The first one is the “best of the best” principle, calling for the uniting of the major advantages of each bank so that they might be able to use them jointly to strengthen their competitive power. The second principle is prioritizing getting economic benefits for both banks.

Kim said in the corporate financial sector, the two banks will work hard to get maximum profits out of financial deals with corporate customers by connecting the deals with their affiliates to create new profits.

The third and last principle is to ensure that the benefits from the integration of the two banks go to the customers. One example is that the two banks cut their ATM fees for customers. 

Now that KEB has become an affiliate of the group, exchange among the affiliates will be expanded with boosted effectiveness more convenient services.

Meanwhile, Hana Financial Group opened a total of nine additional Hope Finance Plazas around the country, including six in the metropolitan area (Yongsan, Sinseol-dong, Dunchon-dong, Yeonsinnae Station, Yeongdeungpo 2-ga, and Northern Seongnam) on Feb. 18 and three in outside of the Seoul area (Sasang in Busan, Daejeon, and Geumnamro in Gwangju) on Feb. 19, in order to provide better access and convenience to customers.

As a result, Hana Financial Group will run a total of 15 microcredit-exclusive consulting counters, including the existing regional base branch offices and exclusive counters (eight at Hana Bank and seven at Korea Exchange Bank). Hana Savings Bank is also planning to open a “Happy Microcredit Consulting” counter at its Guro Digital branch. 

Moreover, an exclusive website has been opened to provide a detailed introduction to the Hope Finance Plaza plan and microcredit products. Customers can apply for one-to-one customized financial consulting services by logging on to the website or calling the call center (080-891-1111, 1599-1115).

Hana Financial Group’ s President Choe Heung-sik said in his congratulatory speech at the completion ceremony,“I expect that, with the help of microcredit-specialized consultants of the Hope Finance Plaza plan, Hana Financial Group will contribute to realizing a happy and healthy society by offering proactive measures to prevent economically-marginalized people from suffering financial problems and helping to solve their fundamental financing problems.