The merger between Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank for which South Korea's Financial Services Commission gave its approval on 22 July has now gone through.

Euromoney magazine selected Hana Bank's private banking arm as the best private bank in Korea this year and for seven years in a row between 2005 and 2011 inclusive. This was based on the quality of Hana's asset management service, which includes asset portfolio optimization, its stringent risk management, its development of innovative private banking products, and its marketing strategies that it tailors to the cultural needs of customers.

Hana Bank was also selected as the “World’s Best Private Bank for Digital Communication” in October 2014 by The Banker and PWM magazine, issued by the Financial Times.

Huyng-II Lee, head of the private banking business division at Hana Bank (launched in 1995, some twenty-five years after the main bank's foundation), believes that the ability to develop a close relationship with the client is as important as portfolio management. He asserts that the private banking arm's AuM grew to KRW23,900bn (€16.5bn) last year. Its average growth in assets and clients has been one-tenth per annum, which some see as little short of a miracle as South Korean high-net-worth individuals are generally reluctant to switch banks.

KEB, meanwhile, has an exalted position in the domestic acquisition financing sector.