Shinhan to enhance competitiveness in WM sector

Shinhan Bank Co.’s headquarters in Seoul.

South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group Co. is pushing to exchange private banker (PB) personnel between its bank and securities subsidiaries in a bid to enhance its competitiveness in the wealth management (WM) sector.

While there have been personnel exchanges between the financial group’s strategy and planning departments, it is unusual to target WM, which is customer-facing. Industry observers view the latest move as a sign that Shinhan Financial Group is fully committed to strengthening this sector.

According to sources from the financial sector on Tuesday, Shinhan Bank Co. and Shinhan Securities Co. recently distributed an official notice to their PBs to select ‘Group Company Exchange PBs.’ Both companies will accept applicants until August 19th, 2024. PBs from Shinhan Bank with at least two years of experience will be selected to work as PB team leaders at Shinhan Securities, while PBs from the securities firm will work in the bank.

The two companies plan to assign these positions as group personnel exchanges in January 2025 after approximately three months of preparation and training from September this year. The initial dispatch period is two years, but this can be extended by mutual agreement between both companies.

“This initiative was planned as part of our efforts to become a ‘customer-focused organization’ emphasized by the group management,” a Shinhan Bank official said. “We plan to select and dispatch PBs who have a high understanding of both bank and securities operations, and to gradually expand this initiative by considering factors such as employee satisfaction, collaboration outcomes, and enhanced expertise.”

The company expects that bank PBs will improve their understanding of the wide range of products offered by securities companies and gain more knowledge of the capital market while working at the securities firm. As securities companies handle a much broader and more diverse range of products with complex structures compared to those sold by banks, working at a securities firm will enable PBs to understand these products comprehensively and respond more effectively to issues such as incomplete sales when they return to the bank.

For their part, securities firm PBs are expected to learn the tight customer management skills characteristic of the bank‘s WM sector, enabling them to manage their client base more systematically upon their return to their firm.

Shinhan Financial Group has been working steadily to strengthen its WM sector since the beginning of 2024. A notable example is the relocation of Shinhan Bank’s WM department to the same building as Shinhan Securities in Yeouido, southwest Seoul. The headquarters of Shinhan Bank is located in Jung District, central Seoul, but the WM department is placed in the Yeouido securities building due to the synergy required with securities.

The group also recently launched the “Shinhan Premier Pathfinder,” a wealth management solutions team composed of experts from Shinhan Bank and Shinhan Securities in investment products, strategies, taxation, inheritance, gifts, real estate, and IB, as it aims to provide consulting and seminar solutions for high-net-worth clients. The team is led by Oh Gun-young, known as the Shinhan Bank “financial instructor,” and consists of approximately 80 members.

The group also launched “Shinhan Premier,” a group-wide wealth management brand. Previously divided into separate brands according to customer segments, the group’s asset management brands including Shinhan Premier PWM, Shinhan Premier PIB, and Shinhan Premier Family Office have been unified under the ”Shinhan Premier“ brand, with actor Kim Soo-hyun to serve as the brand’s model.