Shinhan Exec Named New Bank President

A sign hanging in the office of 58-year-old Shin Sang-hoon, the president of Shinhan Bank, reads: “Remember the beginning.”

Shin, who graduated from Gunsan Commercial High School because he was too poor to attend ordinary high schools, was named the first president of a the bank created by the merger of Shinhan Bank and CHB, which is scheduled to launch in April. The bank will be the second largest bank in Korea.

Nowadays, Shinhan Bank employees can be heard repeating Shin’s motto at social gatherings.

Shinhan Financial Group held a business management committee meeting attended by Na Eung-chan, the chairman of the group, Lee In-ho, the president of the group, and outside directors yesterday, and picked Shin to be the merger-created bank’s first president.

Shin will be officially appointed at a general meeting of stockholders slated for today.

An Iron Hand Ii a Velvet Glove-

Shinhan Bank employees call Shin a person who stays in control, and a leader who serves others. In other words, Shin’s personal character can be expressed as gentle in appearance, but sturdy in spirit.

Shin has many responsibilities. He is busy enough to feel that 24 hours are not enough time in a day. He usually has two or three dinner meetings a day. He also records seminars and lectures that he does not attend due to his busy schedule and listens to them while traveling by car.

When he served as the head of Shinhan’s Osaka branch in Japan, he succeeded in collecting overdue bonds from Japanese organized crime syndicates, which showed his boldness and tenacity.

Shinhan Bank employees call Shin a big brother. Shin also wants to be called brother, not president, in private meetings.

After Shin took office in March 2003, he created a more communication-friendly work atmosphere in an effort to get the bank’s employees more involved in its operations. In addition, after working hours every Thursday, he participates in a bank intranet chat room.

Difficult Problems Still Remain-

At meeting on February 1, Shin stressed “Dogwangyanghoe” in Chinese characters, which means: “Let’s improve our ability silently without displaying it outwardly.” He also said, “Let’s overcome adversity without avoiding or hesitating to face it.”

These remarks can be regarded as an encouragement for bank employees as well as reminders for himself.

Shin still has to finalize the ongoing merger procedures between his bank and CHB. Once the merged bank is officially launched in April, the two banks will be incorporated into a single bank. Incorporating the two different organizations into a single harmonious one may not be easy, however.

The landscape of the banking sector is expected to change this year because the country’s “big four” banks, Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and Hana, will soon become the country’s “big two.” If Shin fails to merge his bank with CHB harmoniously, the merged bank might fall behind the other banks.

Observers within and outside the banking sector are paying attention to Shin’s management motto and whether having employees taking such an active role in the company will impact the expected discord caused by the merger process.

Attention is also being paid to whether Shin will be able to make the merger-created bank into an industry leader.

Kyung-Joon Chung Suk-Min Hong news91@donga.com smhong@donga.com