[Sponsored Report] Shinhan Group declares ‘compassionate finance’

Chairman and CEO of Shinhan Financial Group Han Dong-woo (third from right) and a group of CEOs from the group pose for a photo at the declaring ceremony of its “compassionate finance.”

Announcing “compassionate finance,” Shinhan Financial Group is seeking a way for sustainable growth together with customers and society. In 2001, Shinhan Bank changed into a Shinhan Financial Holdings company and merged with Chohung Bank and LG Card, emerging as Korea’s leading financial brand.

Compassionate finance means that Shinhan Financial Group will be part of actual help in the client’s success and society’s development. When Shinhan Bank first launched in 1982, it introduced the “customer satisfaction” concept, which was totally new to society and made a new standard in the financial industry. Now with compassionate finance, the company is planning to exceed customer satisfaction and stand on the side of the clients, providing differentiated products and service and developing together with their clients.

Shinhan Financial Group has 33 priority tasks to achieve compassionate finance. Shinhan Bank is operating CSP (Corporate Success Program) that helps companies among their long relationship clients that are in difficulty. Shinhan Card is issuing donation cards and strengthening its service for the blind, senior citizens and patients. Shinhan Life Insurance is examining ways to support clients who face unexpected difficulties.

Shinhan’s compassionate finance differs from the social contribution activities of other companies in that “finance” is deeply related with the business of Shinhan. Of course it is meaningful to share part of profits with people in need, but to develop truly together with society Shinhan believes its main business must be related to the value of society.

Shinhan Financial Group has organized a “Compassionate Financial Promotion Team” in all of its subsidiaries and is reviewing whether the product, service and sales process is in line with the value and profit of the clients.

Through these activities, Shinhan is planning to make a live principle in the business field instead of just shouting out the simple slogan of “compassionate finance.”

Alongside these activities, Shinhan Financial Group has been sharing the social responsibility of companies. As result of continuous effort, it has been leading the social contribution work of the financial industry.

In 2005, it published a social responsibility report for the first time for a Korean bank; it also became a member of UN Global Compact in 2008, the best company among local banks for Dow Jones Sustainability Index Korea (DJSI Korea) for three years in a row from 2009 to 2011 and became a part of the Asia Pacific Index.

In 2010, it launched the Shinhan Financial Group volunteer group with the entire group of employees and made coexistence management practice announcements and social responsibility reports by the group, the first for a local financial group in the Korean financial world.

In 2011, it was chosen as number one in the industry by social responsibility investment specialized research institute Sustinvest and is raising its status as the leading financial group in social contribution group. Shinhan Financial Group is using the merit of a financial group and has selected “coexistence,” “sympathy” and “symbiosis” as the three main fields of socially responsible management and is concentrating in social contribution activities.