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지나쌤

Regulator gives final nod to KEB-Hana merger

By KH디지털2

Published : Aug. 19, 2015 - 16:10

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South Korea's top financial regulator on Wednesday gave its final nod to a merger between Hana Financial Group Inc.'s flagship bank units -- Hana Bank and the Korea Exchange Bank, paving the way for the creation of the country's largest lender by assets.

The integrated bank, named KEB Hana Bank, is scheduled to be launched in September upon the approval of the Financial Services Commission.

The stock swap ratio for the merger was set at one Hana Bank share for 2.525 shares of the KEB.

"We will make all-out efforts to minimize customer inconvenience and develop the unified bank to contribute to the financial industry," said Hana Financial.

KEB Hana Bank is expected to have combined assets of 290 trillion won ($245 billion), outnumbering rivals Kookmin Bank with 282 trillion won and Shinhan Bank with 260 trillion won as of end-June.
 

(Yonhap) (Yonhap)

It will have a nationwide network of 945 branches with 15,717 employees, along with 24 overseas offices.

Hana Financial said the first president of KEB Hana Bank will be named later this month.

The Hana Bank-KEB merger has been a long-cherished desire of Hana Financial, the third-biggest banking group, since it acquired the KEB from U.S. buyout fund Lone Star in 2012.

It had promised to run KEB as an independent entity for five years, but pushed for the merger, citing a fast-changing trend in the industry.

Despite strong protests against the move from KEB's labor union, the banking group filed a petition with the FSC for the preliminary approval in January, but soon withdrew it as a Seoul court upheld the KEB union's demand to stop the merger process.

The FSC had stressed that labor-management agreement for the merger is a prerequisite for the integration.

An appellate court ruled in favor of Hana Financial in June, however, to pave the way for the company to resume the talks with the labor union.

As Hana Financial gained consent from the union last month, the financial regulator became supportive of the merger and accelerated the review process to give the final approval this month.

Shares of Hana Financial finished at 28,450 won on the Seoul bourse, remaining unchanged from the previous close, with the benchmark KOSPI tumbling 0.86 percent. The FSC announcement was released after the market closed. (Yonhap)

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