Zero Foreign Banks' Japan, a Financial Wasteland Citi Bank Also Withdrew From, The Reason K-Finance Broke Through – The Dream of Financial Patriotism

Summary

This documentary tells the story of Shinhan Bank's expansion into Japan and Vietnam, emphasizing its pioneering entry into Japan's closed retail banking market and its explosive growth in Vietnam's emerging economy. It highlights Shinhan's localization strategy, digital banking innovation, and relationship-based sales model as key factors that allowed it to thrive where global banks like HSBC and Citi failed. The video frames Shinhan's journey as an example of Korean financial competitiveness on the global stage.

• Shinhan was founded by Korean-Japanese investors and opened its first overseas branch in Osaka in 1986, collecting massive deposits from ethnic Koreans.
• In 2009, Shinhan established SBJ Bank as a local subsidiary in Japan, becoming one of only two foreign banks to do so; after Citi's retail exit, it remained the only foreign retail bank in Japan.
• SBJ used high-interest deposits, non-face-to-face account opening, a mortgage product for investment properties, and digital banking to grow assets from KRW 230 billion to KRW 16.5 trillion.
• In Vietnam, Shinhan entered early (1993), converted to a local subsidiary in 2009, acquired ANZ's retail business, and grew retail loans 15x from 2016 to 2025.
• Both in Japan and Vietnam, over 90% of staff are locals, and the bank relied on relationship managers (RM) visiting clients directly rather than waiting for walk‑ins.
• The documentary suggests that Shinhan's customer‑centric trust and patience to stay during crises (2008 financial crisis, Russia‑Ukraine war) created opportunities to capture market share.
• Shinhan's vision of 'finance that benefits humanity' and long‑term trust is presented as the foundation for sustainable growth beyond just financial performance.