Hana Financial to buy back $280 mn shares after record 2024

Hana Financial Group will buy back 400 billion won ($280 million) worth of shares to retire, marking its largest-ever repurchase, in line with ongoing efforts to boost shareholder returns and corporate value.

The third-largest financial services group in South Korea on Tuesday announced the buyback plan after posting record net profit of 3.70 trillion won in 2024, up 9.3% from the year prior.

It surpassed its previous record of 3.57 trillion won set in 2022. Fee income ticked up 15.2% on-year to 2.07 trillion won, while interest gains edged down 1.3% to 8.76 trillion won.

“Fee revenue increased across businesses such as investment banking, retirement pensions and credit cards,” said Hana Financial in a statement.

Hana Bank made up the lion’s share with 94% of the group's earnings. But its net profit inched down 3.4% on-year to 3.37 trillion won.

Non-banking arms performed well. Hana Securities Co. swung to a profit of 225.1 billion won. Hana Card Co. and Hana Capital Co. earned 221.7 billion won and 116.3 billion won, respectively.

By comparison, Hana Life Insurance Co. and Hana Savings Bank suffered shortfalls of 700 million won and 32.2 billion won, respectively.

Hana Financial will pay a 1,800 won dividend per share for 2024, in addition to the 1,800 won it paid in a quarterly dividend last year.

“This is part of our value-up programs to raise our total shareholder return (TSR) to 50% by 2027,” Hana Financial added.

TSR measures how much investors reap from an investment, particularly in stocks. In 2024, Hana's TSR climbed to 38% from 33% the previous year.

Write to Hyun-Joo Jang at blacksea@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.