[1mm Finance Talk] Why Shinhan Bank Is Smiling on a Bullish Market... Grabbing Both Fund Performance and Compliance in Sales

Fund Balance Up 5.8 Trillion Won in One Year... Largest Increase Among Major Banks
Beyond Simple Sales: Ranked No. 1 Across All Financial Institutions in Sales Procedure Evaluation
Seeking a New Path Amid Deposit Outflows in the Banking Sector

Amid the boom in the domestic stock market, the balance of funds sold by Shinhan Bank has increased by around 6 trillion won over the past year. As a result, fund sales fees have nearly doubled year-on-year, driving growth in non-interest income. This performance was not achieved simply by riding favorable market conditions; it was made possible because the bank earned strong trust by strictly complying with regulations throughout the fund sales process. Even as the banking industry faces a shared crisis of deposit outflows, Shinhan Bank appears to be finding a new path through fund sales grounded in trust.

According to the financial sector on February 8, Shinhan Bank’s fund sales balance as of the end of January stood at 23.2738 trillion won. The key point is its steep growth. The fund balance, which was at 17.1124 trillion won at the end of 2022, increased to 22.9769 trillion won last year, rising by 5.8645 trillion won (34.2%) in just one year. Based on data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the balance increased by about 4.2 trillion won, the largest gain both in absolute increase and in balance among the five major commercial banks. As a result, fund profit and loss (sales fee income) also surged 48.9%, from 57.6 billion won to 85.8 billion won, contributing to non-interest income growth.

In detail, sales of strategic funds launched last year expanded significantly on the back of high returns. As part of its “Once Again Korea” campaign last year, Shinhan Bank recommended three domestic equity-type strategic funds. The recommended funds were Kyobo AXA Power Index, KCGI Korea, and Baring High Dividend. Their combined sales from early June last year to the present (as of the 3rd) over roughly eight months reached 959 billion won. Over the same period, their returns came to 93.6%, 65.6%, and 53.2%, respectively. Shinhan Bank has now expanded its roster of recommended funds to eight.

The bank is also found to be complying with fund sales procedures and regulations better than other financial institutions. In the annual assessment published by the Korea Financial Consumer Protection Foundation, Shinhan Bank received the highest score for two consecutive years. In last year’s assessment, released early this year, it was the only one among a total of 21 fund distributors, including banks and securities firms, to score over 90 points in the overall evaluation. This contrasts with competitors Hana Bank, KB Kookmin Bank, and Woori Bank, which ranked 12th, 17th, and 18th, respectively, and were rated as “insufficient” or “poor.” The trust earned from customers during the fund sales process has translated directly into results.

This appears to be largely due to Shinhan Bank’s continued reinforcement of a “complete sales” framework from the very first stage of fund distribution. A Shinhan Bank representative said, “To enhance financial consumers’ freedom of choice and level of understanding, we have focused on building a preventive protection framework rather than merely conducting post-sale checks,” adding, “Standardizing sales procedures through an AI system and continuously conducting role-playing training for all employees have had a positive impact.” The representative went on to say, “We see 2026 as the first year of fully embedding complete sales practices,” and added, “We will further advance sales processes across all investment products and move to improve our digital channels.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.