People matter. However good technology and support systems are if the client interaction is good then a private bank will inevitably grow and attract newcomers. Many outstanding individuals were recognized at the virtual PBI Global Wealth Awards 2021 but to pick some out Hana Bank in Korea was particularly noteworthy with two winners – Hyeonjoo Kim & Byungju Kim – in the Outstanding Private Banker: Regional Players category.
Byungju Kim is a Certified Investment Manager, with specializations in real estate and hedge funds, and an Accredited Retirement Planning Specialist (ARPS) who has long experience in the industry and has been a private banker (PB) with Hana Bank in Korea since 2014. Prior to that he worked for the bank in the trust department for 12 years managing diversified investment products like specified money in trust and bond-type trusts. His knowledge of portfolios and dealing with investment products was what particularly caught the judges’ eye. He helped to expand the role of exchange traded funds (ETFs) at the private bank, developing a product and investment system, and an equity and short-term bond for the area, to catch some of the flow in this marketplace, thereby expanding clients’ investment and risk options.
Customized products for very important people (VIP) clients are also a specialty, often using external financial institutions (FIs) or internal subsidiaries within the Hana Financial Group, depending upon what is required. His knowledge and nous have been deployed to attract ultra high-net worth individuals (UNHWI), with US$10 million, to the private bank and in one particular instance, in 2018, he attracted a corporate customer to the unit that had recently received US$220m from selling off corporate shares.
Hyeonjoo Kim has been a Private Banker at Hana Bank in Korea since 2011. He is also ARPS accredited for retirement planning, and additionally is a Certified financial planner (CFP) and foreign exchange specialist (CFES).
Foreign direct investment (FDI) corporate fund facilitating is a specialty in how it can relate to releasing money for real estate deals. For instance, he provided a domestic Korean corporation with the ability to establish an overseas subsidiary in the USA to increase its capital base there for real estate investments, which transferred over US$5.3 million. Comprehensive real estate advisory services were also provided for a local subsidiary in China, which invested US$22m into an equity investment vehicle. On the buy-side, a commercial real estate corporation raised US$40.5m in corporate finance after receiving advisory services. An overseas corporation preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) got investment engagement help via introductions to local venture capital (VC) money, receiving US$5m.
Hana Bank customers resident in Canada were also helped by this outstanding private banker to buy local real estate through a mortgage loan raised against a deposit in Korea. This utilized the full global reach and network of the Hana Financial Group. Separately, a corporate owner got portfolio and asset management assistance and advice about how to increase capital by issuing new stock, and how to then use the money raised to invest in securities.
Hana Bank’s Korean experts can help customers domestically and internationally to get the most out of their wealth. These few examples show why two of their colleagues were recognized as outstanding private bankers, headquartered in the Asian region, at the Private Banker International (PBI): Global Wealth Awards 2021.