Asia Trust, One Year into Shinhan Financial Group Integration, Pursues Business Diversification

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Asia Trust, a real estate trust specialist company, is embarking on a full-scale leap forward to mark the first anniversary of its incorporation into Shinhan Financial Group.

According to the financial sector on the 30th, Asia Trust has completed preparations to provide total solutions in the real estate field and decided to pursue business diversification.

An Asia Trust official said, "We have strengthened our fundamentals through the improvement of internal control functions and risk management processes, and completed preparations to expand market share, including new businesses, through active talent acquisition and marketing strategies."

As part of strengthening competitiveness and generating future profits, the ‘Shinhan Real Estate Value-Plus’ launched last month is a new business that Asia Trust is undertaking.

‘Shinhan Real Estate Value-Plus’ is a group-level comprehensive real estate service that combines Asia Trust’s ‘real estate development and management services’ with the ‘real estate investment advisory services’ of affiliates within Shinhan Financial Group, providing consulting and service for the entire process of real estate.

The company explained that it aims to provide total solutions across all areas including real estate acquisition, development, management, and disposition to maximize the asset value of customers’ real estate.

Previously, on May 2 last year, Asia Trust was incorporated into Shinhan Financial Group. At the time of incorporation, the real estate market was entering a recession phase due to the US-China trade dispute and strengthened government regulations, and especially this year, the management environment has remained challenging due to the coronavirus.

Despite these adverse conditions, Asia Trust’s first-quarter 2020 performance showed operating revenue increased by 7.4% and operating profit rose by 3.5% compared to the same period last year.

This is interpreted as being due to an increase in orders for managed land trust products with responsibility for completion guarantees following incorporation into the financial group, and the effectiveness of strategies to reinforce sales personnel for business activation.

However, it was also expressed that it is difficult to overcome the prolonged real estate market downturn and intensified competition due to new entrants with existing businesses alone, and thus the intention to enter new businesses was announced.

In fact, Asia Trust has spent a busy year strengthening internal capabilities and preparing for new business ventures since its incorporation into the financial group.

Asia Trust stated that since its internal systems have reached a stable stage, it is preparing for a full-scale leap forward.

An Asia Trust official emphasized, "From the second half of this year, based on stable risk management capabilities, we plan to aggressively expand market share in existing business areas," adding, "We will focus all of the company’s capabilities to successfully establish new businesses."