Shinhan Bank Co., Ltd. () is a South-Korean
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...
headquartered in
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
. It was founded under this name in 1982, but through its merger with
Chohung Bank in 2006, traces its origins to the
Hanseong Bank (est. 1897), one of the first banks to be established in Korea. It is part of the
Shinhan Financial Group, along with Jeju Bank.
, Shinhan Bank had total assets of , total deposits of and loans of . Shinhan Bank is the main subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group (SFG).
History
With capital provided by Korean businessmen residing in Japan, Lee Hee-gun founded Shinhan Bank on as a small venture with a capital stock of KRW 25.0 billion, 279 employees, and three branches; Kim Se-chang became its first president.
In August 2003, Shinhan Financial Group acquired more than 80 percent of shares in
Chohung Bank, the successor entity of Hanseong Bank founded in 1897, and raised its stake to 100 percent in June 2004. At the time, Shinhan and Chohung were respectively fourth- and fifth-largest by assets in Korea's banking market, and their combination created the country's second-largest banking group,
behind
Kookmin Bank and ahead of
Woori Bank and
Hana Bank
Hana Bank (), known from its initial establishment in 1971 to 1991 as Korea Investment Finance Corporation (), is one of South Korea's largest banks. It merged with Seoul Bank (est. 1959) in 2002, then with Korea Exchange Bank (est. 1967) in 201 ...
.
On , Shinhan Bank and Chohung Bank merged into a single legal entity. Because of the prestige associated with Chohung Bank's history, the transaction was engineered so that it was Chohung that absorbed Shinhan and subsequently renamed itself Shinhan Bank.
In March 2013, the
Financial Services Commission of South Korea said that Shinhan Bank reported that its Internet banking servers had been temporarily blocked. The South Korean government asserted a
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
n link in the
March cyberattacks, which has been denied by Pyongyang.
In Vietnam
Shinhan officially established its
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025.
The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...
branch in December 1994, becoming the first Korean bank to establish a branch in
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
.
In the 2008-2009 period, Shinhan Bank was licensed to become one of the five banks with 100% foreign capital. In 2011, the bank merged with Shinhan Vina Bank to become Shinhan Vietnam Bank - the foreign bank with the highest charter capital at the time.
In 2017, Shinhan Bank acquired the retail segment of
ANZ Vietnam Bank. In early 2020, Shinhan Vietnam Bank was rated BBB (stable) in the long term by international credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).
According to S&P's assessment, Shinhan Vietnam Bank plays an indispensable role in Shinhan Financial Group's (Shinhan Financial Group - SFG) global business expansion goals. At the same time, in November 2020, Shinhan Vietnam Bank officially announced the implementation of Basel II Pillar 2 on capital adequacy assessment processes.
See also
*
List of South Korean companies
*
List of banks in South Korea
This is a list of South Korean banks and the parenthesized number is the bank number.
Central bank
*Bank of Korea (001)
Specialized banks
Specialized banks are financial institutions established under a special act, not the Korean Banking Act. T ...
*
Big Four (banking)
The Big Four (or Big 4) is the colloquial name given to the four main banks in several countries where the banking industry is dominated by just four institutions and where the phrase has thus gained relevance. Some countries include more or fe ...
*
Incheon Shinhan Bank S-Birds
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Banks of South Korea
Companies based in Seoul
Banks established in 1897
South Korean brands
1897 establishments in Korea