Chairman Cho Yong-byoung of Shinhan Financial Group. (Photos: Shinhan Financial Group)

Unlike the second half of 2020, Shinhan Financial Group will pay quarterly dividends in the third quarters of 2021.

Cho Yong-byoung, chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, is promoting an overseas IR show for the first time in two years to actively boost the group’s stock price.

The financial group is in the position to strengthen its shareholder return policy by achieving a dividend yield of five to six percent annually, by cultivating the group’s fundamentals to achieve a quarterly net profit of one trillion won.

Shinhan Financial Group is expected to announce its quarterly dividend plan when it announces its third-quarter results at the end of October.

“Since we promised a quarterly dividend, we will pay quarterly dividends this time as well,” a Shinhan Financial Group official said.

Shinhan Financial Group announced in the second half of last year that it would implement the payment of quarterly dividends for the first time in the financial sector starting from this year.

However, at the beginning of this year, Shinhan Financial Group failed to pay quarterly dividends as financial authorities recommended a dividend payout ratio of 20 percent in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, when the financial authorities’ recommended period ended, the financial group decided to pay a quarterly dividend of 300 won per share. “We ought to keep our promises to investors,” Chairman Cho explained at the time. “Please keep an eye on whether dividends are paid every quarter.”

Chairman Cho Yong-byoung is planning on holding overseas IR road shows too. After attending the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in the United Kingdom in early November, Chairman Cho plans to visit the Americas and Europe.

It will mark the first time in two years since the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held in Washington of the USA in October 2019 that Chairman Cho makes a business trip abroad.

“Chairman Cho will meet with local investors in person to explain the future of Shinhan Financial Group,” the official said.

Shinhan Financial Group Hope Foundation opens its 103rd Shinhan Dream Dodamteo Childcare Center in Sinwol-ro, Yeosu, on Sept. 28. From left are Shin Hyang-jin, head of Shinhan Bank’s Yeosu branch, Kwon Oh-bong, mayor of Yeosu City, and Ji Mi-ja, head of joint childcare facilities in Yeosu.

Opening of 103rd Childcare Center

The Shinhan Financial Group Hope Foundation, led by Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, opened the 103rd Shinhan Dream Dodamteo Childcare Center in Shinwol-ro, Yeosu, on Sept. 28.

Shinhan Dream Dodamteo is a project carried out by the Shinhan Financial Group Hope Foundation to support after-school childcare activities for elementary school students from dual-income families to reduce the burden of childcare and prevent women from quit their jobs for childcare.

Since 2018, the Shinhan Financial Group Hope Foundation has signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and has been conducting a project to build a joint childcare center across the country.

So far, a total of 103 Shinhan Dream Dodamteo Childcare Centers have opened across the country. The foundation will open a total of 200 Shinhan Dream Dodamteo Childcare Centers over the next three years.

Investment in 3 Innovative Digital Companies

Shinhan Financial Group announced on Oct. 6 that it invested a total of 18 billion won in three innovative digital companies — Galaxy Corporation, Xinapse and Balaan — through One Shinhan Connect New Technology Investment Association No. 1 Fund, the first digital strategic investment fund established by a domestic financial company.

In early April, Shinhan Financial Group created One Shinhan Connect New Technology Investment Association No. 1 Fund with a total of 300 billion won to invest in promising ventures, start-ups and would-be unicorn companies to strengthen the group’s core digital capabilities. The fund is under the management of Shinhan Capital.

Through this investment, Shinhan Financial Group collaborates with Galaxy Corporation with character intellectual property rights that can be utilized on metaverse platforms and Xinapse with an AI video and voice synthesis technology company, to preempt future customers and activate the group’s digital services.