Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong, right, speaks during an event at the group’s headquarters in Seoul. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial Group
By Lee Kyung-min
Heads of Korea’s financial groups and commercial lenders are rushing to attend global IT events to digitize and innovate their financial services, market watchers said Sunday.
Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Jin Ok-dong will attend MWC Barcelona 2024, formerly the Mobile World Congress. The annual mobile communications industry trade show is taking place from Feb. 26 to 29.
Similarly, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo and Shinhan Bank CEO Jung Sang-hyuk visited CES 2024, formerly named the International Consumer Electronics Show, from Jan. 9 to 12. Ham was the first Hana group chair to attend the CES for two years in a row.
Working-level officials of KB Financial Group and Woori Financial Group plan to attend MWC.
Shinhan Financial said Jin will visit MWC where Samsung Electronics and Microsoft booths will be set up among many global tech powerhouses.
MWC offers those in attendance the chance to experience cutting-edge technology first-hand, including artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, cloud computing and big data.
The experience will help with the innovation-oriented ideation to advance “Invisible Bank,” one of the growth initiatives of the group emphasized under Jin.
Ham, who previously served as Hana Bank CEO, attended CES in Las Vegas last month to facilitate digital innovation, a key task for Hana Financial.
KB Financial and Woori Financial will send working-level employees in charge of digitalization departments to MWC.
Digital transformation is among the key growth strategies outlined by KB Financial Group Chairman Yang Jong-hee and Woori Financial Group Chairman Yim Jong-yong.
“Departments overseeing the group’s digitization drive are closely following technological developments at CES and MWC, a move to better integrate the most advanced technologies with financial services,” an industry official said.
