[Global Finance Awards] Shinhan aggressively aiming for global growth

Shinhan Financial Group has been actively expanding its global outreach with its overseas operating network that spans over 20 countries.

Its overseas business expansion has been carried out under three major principles -- "strengthening overseas capital market in developed markets, promoting gradual economies of scale in nonbanking sectors of developing countries and promoting digital growth of panbanking sectors of developing countries," according to the banking group.

Shinhan first established overseas banking offices in Vietnam in 1992. It has expanded its Vietnamese operation to include investment securities, insurance, digital banking and credit card services. It became the first financial firm in Vietnam to launch a program to fund startups in August.

Its global business then forayed into Indonesia, Hong Kong, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Australia, completing its Asia-Pacific Financial Belt initiative. Shinhan currently has offices on all continents except South America, Africa and Antarctica.

Shinhan Financial Group has a network spanning 244 locations over 20 countries, employing 6,334 local workers worldwide, as of 2022.

The company has logged growing global profits since 2016. Its global profits temporarily fell in 2020 due to the dawn of COVID-19, but soon recovered in 2021 with an increase of 5.95 billion won ($4.49 million) on-year.

Meanwhile, as the company’s global business profile expands, Shinhan has also been stepping up its global environmental, social and governance efforts.

The financial firm became the first East Asian bank in 2020 to announce its eco-friendly strategy, outlining its plans to achieve 83 percent carbon reduction by 2050. It also decided in March to make public its nature-related financial information as part of a global initiative.

Shinhan has also been consulting various international sustainability experts, while also performing social contribution projects in 2021 to provide solar-powered lamps for children in remote areas of Africa.

Shinhan’s efforts were recognized by the international community, becoming the first private Asian financial firm to be invited to the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in 2021, and the only Asian member of the UN Environment Program Finance Initiative’s Leadership Council in the same year.