[National Audit 2020] Bae Jin-gyo "Italy Healthcare Fund, Essentially Hana Bank OEM Fund"

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Allegations have emerged that Hana Bank effectively created and sold the private equity fund Italy Healthcare Fund as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) product.

On the 23rd, Bae Jin-kyo, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Justice Party, stated, "The Italy Healthcare Fund sold by Hana Bank is essentially an OEM fund," adding, "This fund has been sold exclusively by Hana Bank over the past three years, but with seven different asset management companies involved, it can only be seen as an OEM fund."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Italy Healthcare Fund was introduced to investors as a product investing in medical fee accounts receivable that Italian hospitals claim from local governments. The fund was managed by the US-based asset management company CBIM, while domestically, seven asset management firms including JB Asset Management, Areumdri Asset Management, and Lime Asset Management created private equity funds investing in this fund.

According to the fund due diligence report by Samil Accounting Corporation obtained by Assemblyman Bae, the Italy Healthcare Fund sold by Hana Bank over the past three years heavily invested in non-performing loans, contrary to its actual content. The investment structure showed significant differences from the original plan. Assemblyman Bae said, "Hannam Advisor, which does not even appear in the investment prospectus, actually participated in the investment," adding, "It seems Hannam Advisor connected with the local Italian asset manager and took a 4% fee as compensation." According to the data, the fees for the distributor and domestic asset managers were only about 1%.

Assemblyman Bae emphasized that Hannam Advisor instructed the purchase of non-performing loans and that Hana Bank had a relationship with Hannam Advisor. He criticized, "The asset inclusion price was 7-8% higher than the market price, and Hana Bank downplayed this to private bankers," adding, "It was revealed that the key contents of the investment prospectus were frequently changed, so it is unreasonable for Hana Bank to claim they 'did not know at all' or were 'deceived.'"

Finally, Assemblyman Bae asked Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, "If this fund was sold with the premise of investment loss from the start, isn't it clearly a fraudulent fund?" and questioned, "Shouldn't there be 100% compensation just like in the Lime Asset Management incident?"

In response, Yoon Seok-heon, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, said, "A comprehensive inspection of Hana Bank recently began," adding, "Due to COVID-19 and other factors, the investigation may take some time, but we will verify the points you mentioned."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.