Hana Financial Group is preparing to open what it calls a new “Cheongna era” in Incheon’s Cheongna International City, consolidating key affiliates at a new headquarters complex and aiming to build a finance cluster modeled on Spain’s Santander City.
The plan traces back to 2007, when former Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Seung-yu visited Santander City and Banco Santander and began shaping the idea. Banco Santander, once a regional bank in northern Spain, built a financial town on the western outskirts of Madrid and used it as a base to expand overseas, growing into a major global lender.
According to the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority on Sunday, the third-phase Hana Dream Town project, which includes the group’s headquarters building, was 92% complete and is scheduled to be finished in June. The building will have seven basement levels and 15 above-ground floors, with a total floor area of 128,474 square meters.
Once completed, Hana Financial plans to begin moving major affiliates to Cheongna starting in September, including the holding company as well as its bank, securities, card and insurance units.
The group said it aims to bring together offices now spread across areas including Jung-gu, Yeouido and Gangnam, narrowing physical distance between affiliates and speeding decision-making. The complex is planned as a multi-use campus designed to strengthen data- and digital-based collaboration, rather than a simple office relocation.
The move is notable as the first case among major South Korean financial holding companies to relocate a headquarters outside Seoul. Other large groups keep headquarters in central Seoul, including KB Financial in Yeouido, Shinhan Financial near City Hall, Woori Financial in Myeong-dong and NH NongHyup Financial in Seodaemun.
Incheon City expects the complex, once fully operating, to generate an estimated 877.3 billion won in production-inducing effects and create 7,666 jobs. Officials also anticipate broader spillover effects such as an inflow of younger residents, higher consumption, increased business activity and growth in local tax revenue.
With large-scale financial infrastructure concentrated in Cheongna, the area is expected to accelerate its shift toward a self-sustaining city combining work, housing and commercial functions, analysts said.
Hana Financial Chairman Ham Young-joo said in his New Year’s address that the Cheongna relocation is “not simply moving office locations,” but “a comprehensive change” and a starting point for a major transformation in how the group works and its culture. He said the group would lead digital finance and aim to take a bigger role in global financial markets.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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