Hana Financial Group has moved to keep its current leadership in place at major insurance and securities affiliates while nominating a new chief executive for its distressed asset management unit, ahead of several CEO terms expiring at the end of the year.
The group’s Executive Candidate Recommendation Committee and Affiliate Management Committee have recommended the reappointment of Koonwon Nam as chief executive of Hana Life Insurance and Seongwan Bae as chief executive of Hana Insurance. Their mandates, along with those of several other affiliate heads, are scheduled to end later this year.
Nam, born in 1967, has led Hana Life Insurance since January 2024. According to Asia Business Daily’s report, the committee said its decision reflected “improvement in management performance through diversification of sales channels and expansion into new business areas.”
For the non-life arm, Bae has been proposed for another term as CEO of Hana Insurance, indicating that the group will retain existing management at its insurance operations. Hana Life and Hana Insurance are major units in the group’s life and general insurance distribution, including bancassurance arrangements in the domestic market and selected Asian channels.
The committees also recommended the reappointment of Sungmook Kang as CEO of Hana Securities. Born in 1964, Kang has led the brokerage and investment banking affiliate since January 2023. The committee assessed that he “turned around management performance by overcoming the crisis through transitioning to an emergency management system due to declining profitability, organisational restructuring, expanding the customer base, and risk management.”
The group likewise supported the reappointment of:
A change is planned at Hana F&I, which manages distressed and special assets within the group. Hana Bank deputy president Eunbae Lee has been nominated as CEO of the unit. The committee characterised Lee as “an expert in ‘field-oriented sales’ with extensive experience in loan review,” adding that, “as the current head of the bank’s sales support group, he has made significant contributions to the bank achieving record-high performance. He is highly regarded as the right person to lead the company's long-term growth.”
All candidates are required to pass each affiliate’s internal executive nomination procedures, obtain board approval, and be confirmed at shareholder meetings before their appointments are finalised.
The appointment decisions accompany an improvement in group earnings. Hana Financial Group reported consolidated net profit of 2.301 trillion Korean won for the first half of the year (H1 2025), including 1.1733 trillion won in the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025). This was an 11.2% increase from the same period a year earlier, which the group associated with a broader income mix, cost measures, and risk management in a volatile market environment.
Non-interest income rose 10% year on year to 1.3982 trillion won. Trading gains increased 28.1% to 826.5 billion won, supported by higher activity in securities and foreign exchange derivatives. Fee and commission income grew 4.6% to 1.0804 trillion won, driven by investment banking mandates and recurring fees from retirement pensions, bancassurance and operating leases. Group core earnings – interest income of 4.4911 trillion won plus fee income of 1.0804 trillion won – totalled 5.5715 trillion won, up 2.9% year on year. The second-quarter net interest margin was 1.73%.
On capital, the group estimated its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 13.39%, an increase of 59 basis points from a year earlier and within its stated target range of 13% to 13.5%. The estimated BIS ratio was 15.58%. Return on equity was 10.76% and return on assets was 0.73%.
