Hana Financial Group and SKT Form Partnership Through 400 Billion KRW Equity Swap

Mutual Growth with Vulnerable Groups, Young Entrepreneurs, and Youth
Joint Establishment of ESG Ecosystem

Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom announced on the 22nd that they signed a strategic partnership at the SK Telecom headquarters in Euljiro, Jung-gu, Seoul. At the strategic partnership agreement ceremony held that day, Ham Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group (left in the photo), and Yoo Young-sang, President of SK Telecom (right in the photo), shook hands and took a commemorative photo pledging mutual cooperation.

[Asia Economy Reporter Sim Nayoung] Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom (hereinafter SKT) announced on the 22nd that they have signed a strategic partnership based on super-cooperation grounded in financial and ICT innovation.

To promote all-around cooperation, the two companies agreed to exchange shares worth approximately 400 billion KRW. SKT will sell Hana Card shares worth 330 billion KRW to Hana Financial Group and purchase Hana Financial Group shares worth 330 billion KRW, thereby holding about 3.1% of Hana Financial Group’s shares (based on the closing price on July 22).

Additionally, Hana Card, a 100% subsidiary of Hana Financial Group, will purchase SKT shares worth 68.4 billion KRW and SK Square shares worth 31.6 billion KRW held by SKT, acquiring about 0.6% of SKT shares and about 0.5% of SK Square shares (based on the closing price on July 22). Through this, both companies will secure mid- to long-term momentum for their strategic alliance.

First, Hana Financial and SKT will build an ESG ecosystem for co-growth with vulnerable groups, social enterprises, youth startups, and adolescents, and jointly promote various social value creation programs utilizing the financial and ICT capabilities and infrastructure of both companies.

To this end, the two companies will jointly carry out ESG activities for a better future, including ▲financial solution support cooperation for small merchants ▲joint investment in social enterprises and youth startup ventures ▲joint development and promotion of startup nurturing programs ▲financial education for youth through metaverse platforms.

Hana Financial and SKT, which have led innovation through super-cooperation connecting different industries, will pursue new and broad cooperation projects that cross industry boundaries in various fields encompassing finance and ICT in the Big-Blur era.

Under the shared goal of ‘customer value innovation,’ the two companies will develop future cooperation businesses based on the convergence of finance and ICT in six areas: ▲expanding social roles through ESG cooperation ▲digital transformation of finance ▲discovering new business models by combining financial and telecommunications data ▲fusion of customer-specialized products and services ▲mutual infrastructure sharing ▲digital-based joint marketing.

In particular, through this partnership, the two companies will formalize collaboration between ‘Hana Financial Group’ and the ‘SK ICT Family,’ leaders in finance and ICT, building on their ongoing close cooperation. They also agreed to operate a regular synergy council involving strategic teams and related organizations from both groups to establish smooth and practical mutual cooperation processes.

The two companies will promote digital transformation (DT) toward future finance using ICT new technologies such as AI and cloud. They will innovate digital-based financial services through collaboration in AI solutions, including providing investment information via AI chatbots and introducing AI contact centers for customer response, as well as cooperation in cloud solutions optimized for financial service development and updates.

Based on their data and platform competitiveness, the two companies will also pursue new business model development. They will focus on joint cooperation projects such as developing credit evaluation models combining financial and telecommunications data, strengthening data cooperation in the MyData business, establishing virtual branches on SKT’s metaverse platform, and building payment services within the metaverse ecosystem.

To maximize synergy from finance and ICT convergence, SK Square will actively participate in cooperation through strategic partnerships and promote the launch of new convergent products and services that can enhance customer value in finance, telecommunications, commerce, media, and security sectors.

SK Square’s subsidiaries, including ▲11st (commerce) ▲Content Wave (content) ▲Dreamus Company (music) ▲SK Shieldus (security) ▲One Store (mobile), operate various customer bases and subscription-type ICT services, which is expected to significantly expand Hana Financial’s lifestyle financial service areas.

Convergent financial products and services specialized for SK ICT Family customers will also be gradually introduced. For example, developing lifestyle-customized cards for SKT customers and launching specialized insurance linked to subscription products are possible. Additionally, they plan to jointly pursue various solutions combining finance and ICT, such as shared use of point systems and payment networks.

Ham Young-joo, Chairman of Hana Financial Group, said, “Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom, which have led Korea’s finance and technology with trust and innovation, have opened a new era of partnership,” adding, “Going forward, Hana Financial Group will expand the scope of collaboration, including realizing customer value through digital innovation, pursuing innovation value through finance and ICT convergence, and spreading social value through ESG cooperation.”

Yoo Young-sang, CEO of SKT, said, “This partnership will be an important starting point where leading companies in ICT and finance join forces to drive customer value innovation,” and added, “SKT will closely cooperate to enhance customer value and competitiveness of the ICT and financial industry ecosystem, and both companies will unite their efforts in various ESG activities to further expand positive influence.”

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