More than half of foreign shareholders in Hana Financial Group have thrown their support behind Chief Executive Ham Young-joo for a second term, marking a stark reversal from two years ago when a majority of them voted against him.
According to financial industry sources on Thursday, pre-vote tallies from the Korea Securities Depository indicate that foreign investors cast around 123.6 million shares in favor of Ham’s reappointment.
This represents 63.7% of the total foreign-held voting shares of the South Korean banking group and 75% of the foreign votes submitted in advance.
Foreign shareholders control about 70% of Hana Financial’s total voting rights. With this pre-vote count, Ham has already secured an estimated 44% approval from shareholders, raising the likelihood that his reappointment proposal is expected to pass at the March 25 shareholder meeting.
Domestic proxy advisory firms Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability and Korea Corporate Governance Service have both recommended shareholders support Ham’s reappointment.
Since Ham assumed Hana’s leadership in March 2022, its net profit has increased to 1.77 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in 2024, versus 1.69 trillion won in 2023 and 1.15 trillion won in 2022.
By Mi-Hyun Jo
mwise@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.
