Chairman Kim Jung-tai of Hana Financial Group (Photo: Hana Financial Group)

An inflection point will be reached this year in finance, said Kim Jung-tai, chairman of Hana Financial Group in his New Year’s message for 2021.

“If we successfully put into practice platform-powered finance, global finance and social value-creating finance based on humanity and trust, we will surely achieve win-win growth and happiness-sharing finance,” Kim explained.

“We witnessed the limits of interest-based growth due to the emergence of multiple competitors due to the collapse of business boundaries, the saturation of the Korean financial market and tougher regulations on financial companies doing business in Korea and the continuance of low interest rates last year,” Kim said after looking back on 2020.

Chairman Kim stressed that 2021 will be a stepping stone to the realization of the group’s ultimate vision and he will push for platform-powered, global and social value-creating finance in 2021.

Chairman Kim stressed the need to create a life finance platform for customers, led by Hana Financial Group in partnership with various life platforms before the group simply becomes a product provider for platform operators.

Just as nearly 50 percent of major financial companies’ earnings come from the global market, Hana Financial Group should ramp up its overseas business by seeking opportunities for growth in the Asian market, Kim added.

Kim continued to stress the importance of platform-powered finance.

“In order to secure future competitiveness, expanding our customer base is more important than anything else,” Kim noted.

“Platform-powered finance is the best tool for attaining this goal. A platform is like a marketplace where multiple suppliers and consumers meet. It creates new value through connections. Due to a network effect that the more users flock to a platform, the more users the platform will have. This way creates a structure in which a platform that preoccupied a business area will monopolize the business area, enabling exponential growth.”

“Moreover, customers experience all goods and services within a platform, which breaks down the boundaries of business and promotes convergence among businesses, making the platform a black hole that absorbs everything,” Kim added.

“This is why we need to create a life finance platform for our customers in partnership with various living platforms before we merely become a supplier for platform operators.”
Kim picked out global finance as the second topic. “Due to the low growth trend and

 small size of the Korean financial market, we need to find our future growth items abroad,” Kim said. “In the digital age, borders are meaningless. We need to move away from a domestic market-oriented mindset and start everything with a global mindset.”

“A fundamental change is needed from approach methods,” Kim added. “We need to move away from a domestic market-oriented mindset, give priority to the global market from the business planning stage and start based on a global mindset.”

In particular, Kim underlined the need to establish a global operation model in all areas of business including products, processes, systems, and human resources development.

Kim asked employees to catch sustainable growth opportunities by establish an ESG strategy system that can match changes in international financial order.

“One’s strong will ultimately determine his or her future,” Kim added. “Therefore, we should have an active attitude and a positive mindset, steadily believing that a small start can lead to a big change.”

“Last but not least, I want to talk about social value-creating finance,” Kim continued.

“In the past, companies were praised for their good use of some of their profits they made. But now, companies have to make profits in a good manner and even are required to publicly open how they made money. Unless a company objectively discloses non-financial factors related to environment, society, and governance (ESG), they will be forced out of the market or will not be able to survive, still less prosper.”

“Therefore, Hana Financial Group will recognize ESG-oriented management as a necessity, not an option,” Kim said.

“We will create opportunities for sustainable growth by setting up an ESG strategy system that responds to changes in the international financial world.”