Hana Financial, SK Telecom bolster partnership in digital financing biz, ESG

Hana Finacial Group and SK Telecom have signed a deal to work together on setting up a new environmental, social and governance (ESG) model and for the telecom firm to expand its financing business too. It was reported the past weekend that the agreement is a share-swap contract worth around KRW400 billion or $305.3 million.

As per The Korea Herald, the agreement between Hana Financial Group and SK Telecom indicated that the latter would acquire a 3.1% stake in the financial holding company, and the purchase is worth KRW330 billion. The telecom company will also give back its 15% stake in Hana Card, Hana’s credit and debit card provider unit.

Returning the stake to the Korean banking giant is said to be worth KRW330 billion. It was in 2009 when the SK Group bought a 49% stake in Hana Card and paid KRW400 billion at that time for the acquisition.

Over the years, SK has been selling the shares back to Hana, and now as the stake is being returned, Hana will once again own a 100% stake in its Hana Card unit once the deal is completed and closed on Wednesday, July 27. In return for this arrangement, the card issuer will buy a 0.6% stake in SK Telecom for KRW68.4 billion in addition to a 0.5% stake in SK Square worth KRW31.6 billion.

These are some of the first few strategic agreements between the two companies since SKT sold all of its shares in Hana in 2019. They are planning to further expand their collaborations in other business areas such as the cloud biz and artificial intelligence (AI) based financial services, according to Korea Joongang Daily.

Moreover, Hana and SKT also have plans to develop a financial service in the virtual world called the metaverse. For this, they will be building a Hana Financial Group branch in SK Telecom’s metaverse and allow customers to do banking transactions there.

“This business partnership between the leading information and communications technology (ICT) and financial companies will be an important starting point in pursuing customer value innovation,” SK Telecom’s chief executive officer, Ryu Young Sang, said.

Hana Group added in a separate statement. “We have signed a strategic partnership with SK Telecom on Friday to build a new cooperative agreement based on ICT innovation.”