'Productive finance is complete only when paired with inclusive finance,' Hana chief says

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said Thursday that "truly productive finance is not complete by simply nurturing advanced future industries — it is only fulfilled when combined with inclusive finance that broadly encompasses the foundational industries and the many small and mid-sized manufacturers that form the bedrock of our economy."

Ham made the remarks at a seminar held Thursday at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Jung-gu, Seoul, jointly organized by the Korea Institute of Finance, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, and the Hana Institute of Finance. The event, titled "Financial Policy in the Era of Strategic Industrial Policy: A Paradigm Shift for Securing Future Growth Engines," featured Ham as a congratulatory speaker representing the financial sector, where he stressed the leading role that private finance must play.

"Our industrial ecosystem is rapidly shifting toward technology-driven sectors — AI, data, and power and energy — beyond the traditional mainstay industries," Ham said. "In this era of sweeping transformation, finance must also break free from the narrow framework of conventional funding support." He argued that as uncertainty in global supply chains grows, industrial policy and financial policy can no longer be considered separately, and that the role and responsibility of private finance have become greater than ever.

Ham added that the financial sector must "reinvent itself as a steadfast partner that designs new industrial ecosystems grounded in a deep understanding of industry." He said it is "the true role of finance to properly evaluate R&D investment and intangible technological capabilities, and to support companies throughout their entire life cycle — from inception through growth to takeoff."

He particularly said inclusive finance must accompany productive finance to raise its quality. "The entire financial sector will join forces to break outdated frameworks," Ham said, pledging that "Hana Financial will fulfill a leading role as one pillar of a cooperative model linking industrial policy, policy finance and private finance — so that Korean companies can secure future technological competitiveness and go on to lead the global technology ecosystem."

Hana Financial has finalized its productive finance supply target for this year at 17.8 trillion won, an increase of 1.6 trillion won from its original plan, and is moving quickly to deploy the funds. The allocation breaks down into 2.5 trillion won for the National Growth Fund, 2.5 trillion won in the group's own direct investment, and 12.8 trillion won in loan support — all directed toward fostering national strategic industries.

The seminar was organized to redefine the relationship between industrial policy and financial policy in securing national competitiveness, and to explore the role of finance in industrial transformation and innovation-driven growth, ways for policy finance and private finance to cooperate, and the direction for redesigning the support framework for nationally designated advanced strategic industries.

Kim Nam-hoon, head of the economic and industrial analysis team at the Hana Institute of Finance, recommended that the financial sector expand its screening capabilities, advance direct financing, and strengthen coordination with policy finance to invigorate productive finance.

"Structural industrial transformation and securing technological advantages are urgently needed to address the weakening growth momentum of mainstay industries and the widening gap between companies," Kim said. He called for building an assessment framework that evaluates technological capability and business viability rather than relying on collateral, and for expanding the role of risk capital through investment banking, corporate finance and venture finance.

By Kim Eun-hee