Kim Seung-yu finishes 15 years as top banker

Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Seung-yu finished his 15-year career as chief of the financial company on Friday.

Kim worked as chief executive of Hana Bank between 1997 and 2005 and as the first chairman of Hana Financial Group between 2005 and 2012.

The 68-year-old banker has been highly evaluated as one of the few figures to foster their organizations via mergers and acquisitions in the nation’s financial industry.

Hana, which took over Seoul Bank in 2002, Boram Bank in 1999 and Chungcheong Bank in 1998, acquired Korea Exchange Bank last month.

Under Kim’s initiative, Hana Bank could establish its parent Hana Financial Group as it tapped the brokerage business by acquiring Daehan Investment & Securities in 2005.

During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, Kim encountered a critical situation as he and Hana Bank were warned by the Financial Supervisory Service for issuing fabricated loan documents to SK Networks (formerly SK Global) and SK Shipping.

But during the Lee Myung-bak administration starting in 2008, Hana Financial saw its asset ranking climb to No. 2 in the local financial market, up from its earlier position of No. 4.

Hana’s acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank from Lone Star Funds has sparked wide interest among market participants at home and abroad in both economic and political terms.

Though he signed a contract with Lone Star’s senior executives to trade KEB shares, his former remarks could remain a paradox, according to market observers.

When Hana Bank was contending with Lone Star to take over Seoul Bank in 2002, Kim argued that the U.S.-based bidder is not allowed to own a Korean bank, stressing that it is a “private equity fund.”

But he ultimately acknowledged the status of Lone Star as the majority shareholder of KEB. The fund controlled the Korean bank between 2003 and 2012.

It was the Financial Services Commission that officially acknowledged the shareholder eligibility of Lone Star, despite arguments among a group of professors and lawmakers that it is a non-financial investor, and thus banned from owning a local bank.

Though the U.S. investor was also convicted of stock manipulation, it could enjoy huge management premiums paid by Hana Financial.

The FSC did not accept calls from protestors to dispose of its KEB shares to anonymous investors in the stock market, instead of a particular one like Hana.

Earlier this week, Kim participated in a two-day business tour across the country, dubbed the “financing to the underprivileged,” with FSC chairman Kim Seok-dong.

The FSC chief, who played a key role as then-director general in approving Lone Star’s acquisition of KEB in 2003, took the initiative in endorsing the Hana-Lone Star deal last January.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)