Chairman of Han Asia Financial Group: Stablecoins May Become the New Growth Engine

Odaily Planet Daily News: Han Asia Financial Group Chairman and CEO Ham Young-joo stated in his New Year’s address that as technology-driven changes in the financial structure accelerate, capital is flowing from traditional banking systems to emerging sectors. Stablecoins are expected to become an important growth driver for the group in the future. Ham pointed out that the group needs to proactively build a comprehensive digital asset ecosystem that covers issuance, distribution, usage, and circulation, rather than merely participating within the existing framework. He also mentioned that, given the ongoing political discussions regarding the regulation of digital assets, the actual impact of stablecoins is still difficult to assess accurately. However, the group must undertake fundamental innovation in advance and, through cross-industry and cross-regional cooperation, lay out distribution networks in anticipation of broader applications of stablecoins. Additionally, he emphasized the need to reduce heavy reliance on traditional banking services and accelerate expansion into non-banking businesses to respond to the structural financial transformation driven by artificial intelligence development and changes in capital flow patterns. Ham also warned that scale and past success alone are no longer sufficient to ensure long-term survival. The group needs to systematically reconstruct areas such as investment banking, risk management, and corporate credit assessment, and overcome internal inertia to seek new growth opportunities with greater urgency. (Korea Herald)