Shinhan Financial Group marks 25th anniversary

Shinhan Financial Chairman Jin Ok-dong attends the group's 25th anniversary ceremony at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday morning. [Shinhan Financial Group]
Shinhan Financial Chairman Jin Ok-dong attends the group's 25th anniversary ceremony at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday morning. [Shinhan Financial Group]

Shinhan Financial Group marked its 25th anniversary Tuesday by laying out a path toward sustainable growth built on customer trust, stronger internal controls and enhanced business competitiveness in the AI era.

The group held a commemorative ceremony at its headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, attended by Chairman Jin Ok-dong, CEOs of its subsidiaries and executives of the holding company.

In a special address, Jin looked back on Shinhan's 25-year journey and identified "trust" and "business competitiveness" as the core values needed to sustain growth amid a rapidly shifting financial landscape.

Jin defined trust as both a prerequisite and a decisive factor for moving forward, arguing that no matter how the mechanics of finance evolve, a financial institution is ultimately judged by the trust its customers place in it.

He added that in the AI era, the object of that trust would expand beyond the institution itself to encompass "AI agents" — systems that compare products, execute investments and carry out transactions on behalf of customers.

"The competitive edge that will matter going forward lies not simply in how well we use AI, but in how well we design AI that customers can trust," Jin said.

He also stressed the importance of internal controls, saying that losing trust is tantamount to losing future growth opportunities. Jin said a "sustainable Shinhan" can only be built when every domain — internal controls, profitability, market position, customer base, corporate culture and AI transformation — reinforces the others. A dedicated AI transformation unit at the holding company level oversees group-wide AI innovation toward that end.

"Shinhan's past 25 years have been a journey of growth through successes and failures, challenges and reflection," Jin said. "Let us leap even higher going forward, grounded in Shinhan's unwavering trust and the competitiveness of every domain that supports one another."


forest@heraldcorp.com