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

Hana Financial Group announced on April 23 that it netted 834.4 billion won on a consolidated basis in the first quarter of 2021.

This means that its net profit swelled 27 percent (657 billion won) from a year ago and 57 percent (532.8 billion won) from the fourth quarter of 2020.

Analysts say that its growth in the non-banking sectors, such as Hana Financial Investment, Hana Card and Hana Capital led to the group’s improved business performances.

The group’s core profits, including interest income of 1.574.1 trillion won, and commission income of 617.6 billion won, rose 12.1 percent year-on-year to 2.191.7 trillion won.

 
“This is the results of a notable improvement in our non-banking sector including an increase in overall key profits such as the strong growth of loan assets and an increase in brokerage fees in the securities business due to the revitalization of the capital market,” a Hana Financial official explained.

Hana Bank, a major subsidiary of Hana Financial Group, posted consolidated net profit of 575.5 billion won in the first quarter, up 3.76 percent from a year before.

Hana Bank’s total assets amounted to 615 trillion won, including 140 trillion won in trust assets as of the end of March.

In particular, the financial group’s non-banking sector played an active role in pushing up the proportion of income to 39.9 percent from a year earlier, up 14.1 percentage points.

 Hana Financial Investment posted a net profit of 136.8 billion won, up 192.9 percent, while Hana Card’s net profit rose 139 percent to 72.5 billion won.

Hana Capital netted 60.9 billion won, up 37.8 percent. Hana Asset Trust and Hana Life Insurance Co. posted net profits of 19.3 billion won and 17.9 billion won, respectively.

Hana Financial Group’s transfers in the first quarter, including transfer to loan-loss reserves, stood at 91.3 billion won, down 1.7 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, Hana Financial Group set aside about 340 billion won in economic response reserves in preparation for external shocks that might be triggered by the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Its asset soundness indicators remained stable. At the end of March, Hana Financial’s delinquency rate fell by 0.01 percentage point year on year to 0.3 percent, while its NPL ratio stayed at 0.4 percent, down 0.07 percentage points from the same period last year.

Its ROE rose by 1.56 percentage points from a year earlier to 10.94 percent while its ROA 0.11 percentage points to 0.74 percent.

The group’s NIM hit 1.61 percent, up 0.06 percentage points from the previous quarter.

In the meantime, Hana Financial Group announced in late April that it took home the prize of the Carbon Management Honors Club by acquiring the highest grade for “Leadership A” in the 2020 Climate Change Response Sector released by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

The CDP is one of the most reliable global sustainability assessment indicators, along with the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).

It is also a global information disclosure project that calls on major listed companies around the world to disclose information regarding hot environmental issues such as climate change, forests and water resources.

Hana Financial Group had been included in the Carbon Management Sector Honors since its first participation in the CDP in 2016.

The financial group won the Carbon Management Honors Club Prize as it earned the highest grade for “Leadership A” in 2020 in recognition of its governance, management strategy, carbon emission goals and performance management system.

In addition, Hana Financial Group announced on April 21 that it will achieve 60 trillion won in ESG financing and support by 2030 and Zero & Zero (achieving carbon neutrality and zero coal project financing by 2050) as a mid- to long-term ESG goal and through them, manage the mid- to long-term goals of its management of carbon emissions.

Hana Financial Group will also increase its communication capabilities by systematically managing Scope 3 emissions, and expanding the scope of non-financial information disclosure by reflecting Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) guidelines.

“In addition to the CDP, we are also raising our status as a global financial group, including being included in the Asia Pacific and Korea indexes of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI),” said an official at the ESG Planning Team of Hana Financial Group.

“We will set up Hana-Taxonomy through various efforts to satisfy global levels down the road.”