[비즈한국] The New Year of 2026, the 'Year of the Red Horse,' has dawned. Amid the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and the growth of the digital asset market, the sense of crisis in traditional finance is significant. The New Year's addresses of the leaders of the four major domestic financial groups (KB, Shinhan, Woori, and Hana Financial Group) reveal a determined resolve to innovate and survive in the face of a new paradigm. It is also notable that they have all reflected 'productive and inclusive finance,' the core of the current government's financial policy, in their group strategies for the year.
KB Financial Group set 'Transformation and Expansion' as its management strategy for the New Year. The core is to transform business methods and expand its customer base and market. In his 2026 New Year's address, KB Financial Group Chairman Yang Jong-hee explained, "Transformation is saying goodbye to the familiar, while expansion is encountering the unfamiliar."
Regarding 'transformation,' he proposed strengthening productive finance and shifting the constitution toward capital-efficient IB (Investment Banking) business. Productive finance is based on professional business feasibility assessment and sophisticated risk management systems, while the IB business provides comprehensive asset and liability solutions based on consulting and advisory services. Regarding 'expansion,' he urged the firm to broaden its dominance over strategic customers such as youth, seniors, small and medium-sized corporations, and high-net-worth individuals, and to preempt customer and business opportunities in new markets like digital assets and AI business.
He also emphasized strengthening consumer rights and trust. Chairman Yang ordered the firm to consider inclusive finance, which allows everyone to access financial services, as a fundamental duty and to establish a financial consumer protection system that prioritizes consumer rights across all services. "The essence of finance is trust, and trust comes from competence," said Chairman Yang. "We must respond to the trust of customers and the market by protecting customer information and assets, presenting optimal products and solutions based on innovative AI technology, and practicing corporate management that grows together with the community."
Shinhan Financial Group set 'Great Challenge 2030, Bold Execution toward Future Finance' as its 2026 management slogan. Its four key management strategies for 2026 are: accelerating Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) and Digital Transformation (DX), leading future strategic businesses, productive finance, and financial consumer protection.
In his New Year's address, Shinhan Financial Chairman Jin Ok-dong stated, "We are standing at a major inflection point where technology is changing the order of finance. The expansion of digital assets, Web3 wallets, and Agentic AI (next-generation AI with minimal human intervention) is becoming a reality." He added, "There are projections that the influence of existing financial firms in deposits, loans, and remittances could diminish. We must find a breakthrough—whether to remain in the past and disappear as a legacy financial group, or to prove Shinhan's reason for existence by navigating both Web2.0 and Web3.0."
Chairman Jin identified the acceleration of AX and DX as the first management strategy for 'survival.' He noted that the group must fundamentally innovate its working methods and customer touchpoints, enhance its fundamental competitiveness through AX, and secure leadership in the digital asset ecosystem. Leading future strategic businesses involves the 'One WM' strategy, which integrates asset management functions of the bank and securities firm, and creating differentiators for senior customers. He also ordered an increase in asset profitability through synergies between insurance and asset management. In line with the government's stance, productive finance and financial consumer protection were also included in the New Year's strategy.
Furthermore, Chairman Jin presented the idiom 'Bujinjoe (不進則退 - If you do not advance, you will fall behind)' and emphasized, "If we remain stuck in existing inertia, we cannot survive on the battlefield of future finance." He added, "Strive to make the fundamental duties of a financial professional and the desperation for innovation the DNA and habit of this organization."
Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo called for a sense of crisis, citing the 'paradigm shift in finance.' Chairman Ham noted, "Structural changes are occurring within the financial industry, in addition to the rapid development of digital technologies such as AI. The 'money move,' where funds withdrawn from bank deposits shift to capital market products, is accelerating." He pointed out, "There is a growing demand for finance to create a healthy flow of funds to directly contribute to the growth of the real economy and innovative industries, rather than just achieving results through the management of safe assets like real estate."
Chairman Ham strictly diagnosed both the banking and non-banking sectors. "There are securities firms that make more money than banks. Household loans have reached their growth limit, and wisdom is needed to distinguish the good from the bad in corporate loans and investments. It is a crisis for banks," he said, demanding secured asset management capabilities, a shift toward promoting productive finance, a reinforced proactive consumer protection system, and advanced internal controls. Regarding the non-banking sector, he remarked, "Disappointment persists despite favorable market conditions such as a booming stock market," and ordered the group to achieve results in tasks such as strengthening core business competitiveness and expanding the retail sector.
His mention of coin issuance is also noteworthy. Chairman Ham said, "It is not enough to just issue coins and manage reserves and security systems based on the group's stability and trust." He added, "We must secure various usage points through partnerships with various partners to connect with real life to complete the coin distribution network, and proactively design and build an ecosystem leading from coin issuance to distribution, usage, and reflux through AI technology linkage and government policy coordination on currency and foreign exchange."
Woori Financial Group set 'Woori Financial, Leading Future Mutual Growth' as its 2026 management goal, establishing 'productive finance,' 'leading AX,' and 'creating synergy' as its three key strategic directions. Productive finance aims to support the entire growth stage of companies, making corporate finance a future growth engine, and striving for inclusive finance to fulfill the social role of finance.
The group also set goals to upgrade its AI capabilities through company-wide AX and to strengthen competitiveness in new business areas in line with the institutionalization of digital assets. As it is the first year of starting as a comprehensive financial group equipped with banking, insurance, and securities, it has also set a plan to accelerate sustainable growth based on synergies between each affiliate.
In his New Year's address, Woori Financial Group Chairman Lim Jong-ryong emphasized, "If the past three years were a time to fill in gaps and build basic physical strength, this year we must go beyond achieving group goals and build firm competitiveness." He added, "We must leap into a leading financial group under the clear directions of productive finance, AX, and synergy."