Joyoungbyung's Ship Sets Sail for a Cultural Transformation Toward 'Top-Tier Shinhan' (Comprehensive)

"Aligning Future Dreams to Meet Customer Expectations"
20th Anniversary: Launch of New Vision for "Easier, More Comfortable, and Newer Finance"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Shinhan Financial Group, the first purely private capital financial holding company in Korea, has celebrated its 20th anniversary. Over the past 20 years, Shinhan Financial has rapidly expanded its size, growing beyond a leading domestic financial group to become a top-tier global financial group. Total assets, which were only 56 trillion KRW at the time of establishment, have grown more than tenfold to reach 626 trillion KRW. Net income for the first half of this year has exceeded 2 trillion KRW.

◆ 'Captain' Cho Yong-byeong, declares a 'Cultural Transformation' = Cho Yong-byeong, Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, announced the group’s new vision of ‘Easier, More Comfortable, and More Innovative Finance.’ At the 20th anniversary ceremony held online on the 1st, Chairman Cho stated, "It is time to realign Shinhan’s future dreams to match the true form of finance that customers desire," and added, "Let us achieve Shinhan Financial’s new vision together from this new starting line toward the future."

In July, Shinhan Financial held the ‘Shinhan Culture Forum’ to establish plans for the development direction of Shinhan’s culture. Various reboot (RE:BOOT) projects are underway to improve Shinhan’s culture from the perspectives of customers, the future, and employees, in line with the digital era.

To mark its 20th anniversary, Shinhan Financial conducted a group vision reboot project to create a vision that reflects greater customer-centric values. Through surveys of over 500 customers and employees ranging from their teens to their sixties, as well as interviews with external experts, diverse opinions were gathered to ultimately derive the group’s new vision.

Shinhan Financial’s new vision, ‘Easier, More Comfortable, and More Innovative Finance,’ encompasses the three most important values customers seek in finance: convenience, safety, and innovation. The word ‘More’ expresses the group’s commitment to continuous efforts toward customers and the intention to provide differentiated solutions unique to Shinhan.

‘Easier Finance’ means connecting finance more closely to customers’ daily lives and businesses through innovative digital services that cover both online and offline, making it easier and more convenient for customers to use. ‘More Comfortable Finance’ reflects Shinhan’s promise to provide safe and trustworthy finance that brings greater peace of mind to customers. ‘More Innovative Finance’ embodies Shinhan’s pledge to offer better value to customers through fresh and original top-tier financial services creatively linked with innovative digital technologies.

To ensure the new vision is quickly established within the organization and internalized in employees’ thoughts and actions, Shinhan Financial has established a ‘New Vision Driving Body,’ which will carry out various activities such as external advertising, investor relations, and events for customers and employees.

Chairman Cho emphasized, "It is time to start a cultural transformation to realize the dream of a top-tier Shinhan," and added, "We must first boldly eliminate practices that are not essential." This suggests that any formalities or rigid frameworks without customer-centric consideration should be removed without hesitation, requiring decisive leadership and leading by example.

He continued, "Let us align the entire internal system and processes anew with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) as Shinhan’s ultimate goal," and expressed, "By enhancing the group’s overall digital capabilities, let us become a true leader in the market."

Shin Yong-byeong, Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group, is reflecting on the founding spirit at the place where Shinhan Financial's history began, marking the 20th anniversary of its establishment. Chairman Cho announced a new vision of "Easier, More Comfortable, and Newer Finance."

◆ Shinhan, standing tall as a top-tier global financial group = On this day, Chairman Cho reenacted the 20th anniversary ceremony at the place where Shinhan Financial’s history began, to recall the resolute spirit filled with determination to set new standards in finance.

Shinhan’s small dream, which started in 1982 with three branches, was reborn in 2001 as a comprehensive financial group with six subsidiaries. This marked the beginning of Shinhan Financial’s history, which now celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Shinhan Financial encompasses all areas of Korean finance through its 16 group companies, including Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, Shinhan Investment Corp., Shinhan Life, Shinhan Capital, Shinhan Asset Management, and Shinhan Savings Bank, as well as five matrices: Global, Global Investment Banking (GIB), Proprietary Asset Management (GMS), Retirement Pension, and Wealth Management (WM).

Total assets at the time of establishment were 56.3 trillion KRW, which have grown more than tenfold to 626.043 trillion KRW, and net income has increased from 221 billion KRW to 2.4958 trillion KRW.

Shinhan Financial has also changed the map of global finance. Its global channels have increased 40-fold, and locally hired employees have grown nearly 60 times. Particularly, as a result of actively pioneering the New Southern Market, Shinhan became the number one foreign bank in Vietnam. As of the end of last year, global operations accounted for 10% of the group’s total profit and loss.

Shinhan Financial is continuing to evolve in line with the global trend of ESG management. By establishing the ‘ESG Promotion Committee,’ the group is actively pursuing ESG-related projects with goals to strengthen eco-friendly systems through the ‘Zero Carbon Drive,’ build a win-win ecosystem for sustainable growth, and establish a trustworthy management system.

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