Shinhan Bank

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Shinhan Bank

Type	Public (NYSE: SHG)
Founded	1897
Headquarters	Seoul, Korea
Key people	Shin Sang Hoon, CEO
Industry	Finance
Products	Checking accounts Savings accounts Insurance Investments Mortgages Consumer finance
Revenue	▲US $5.454 billion (2006)
Operating income	▲US $2.614 billion (2006)
Net income	▲$1.832 billion USD (2006)
Employees	14,000(2006)
Website	www.shinhan.com

Korean name

Hangul	신한은행
Hanja	新韓銀行
Revised Romanization	Shinhan Eunhaeng
McCune-Reischauer	Shinhan Ŭnhaeng

Shinhan Bank (신한은행 in Korean, 新韓銀行 in Chinese, しんかんぎんこう in Japanese), is a bank, headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Historically it was the first bank in Korea, established under the name Hanseong Bank in 1897. The bank was reestablished in 1982. It is part of the Shinhan Financial Group, along with Jeju Bank. Shinhan Bank merged Chohung Bank on April 1, 2006.
Shinhan Bank started as a small enterprise with a capital stock of KRW 25.0 billion, 279 employees, and three branches on July 7, 1982. Today, it has transformed itself into a large bank, boasting total assets of KRW 176.9 trillion, equity capital of KRW 9.7 trillion, 10,741 employees, and 1,026 branches as of 2006. Total deposits and net income amounted to KRW 105.3 trillion and KRW 1.4 trillion, respectively.

[edit] History

Shinhan Bank is the descendant of Hanseong Bank, the first modern bank in Korea. It was established by Kim Jong-Han in 1897, but began operating around 1900. It was originally located in a small house with only two rooms. One room was for the president, Yi Jae-Won, and the other room was for the staff. The bank operated by borrowing money from Japanese banks at low interest rates and then loaning it out for twice the rate to the Korean market. The Bank was successful because despite lending out money at twice the rate it borrowed it at, the bank's interest rates were still far lower than what could be obtained elsewhere in Korea at that time. ^[1]

In an anecdotal story the bank's first property to use as collateral on a loan happened to be a donkey. The bank staff were challenged to feed and care for their collateral as the loan was out. ^[2]

The bank's early president, Yi Jae-won was a Japanese sympathizer. The bank itself was also had close ties with Japan as that was their parent lender. As a result the bank was often the victim of nationalist backlash, but endured, thanks in part to the low interest rates they provided. ^[3]