Hana Financial Group said on April 20 it held a launch ceremony for the “Hana Youth Financial Talent Development Project” with the Financial Supervisory Service and ran a final-round competition to foster young financial talent.

The project is a hands-on training programme sponsored by the Financial Supervisory Service and companies including Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft. It expanded and reorganised the existing “Hana Digital Power On” to include training in finance, ESG and AI and data analysis.

The event was attended by Sung-wook Kim (김성욱), deputy governor at the Financial Supervisory Service, and Young-joo Ham (함영주), chairman of Hana Financial Group, along with other officials and young people who advanced to the finals. A total of 71 people in 20 teams took part in the finals and presented ideas for financial services based on AI, blockchain and cloud technologies.

Final selected participants will combine training and project work for about four months. The programme is expected to provide practical training in data analysis, generative AI and development of LLM-based services, along with basic courses on financial markets, financial products, ESG and financial consumer protection.

Team projects will also be run. Participants plan to develop their ideas with mentoring from Hana Financial Group staff and to produce service models through a hackathon in collaboration with SK Telecom.

Outstanding participants will receive prize money totalling 30 million won, and some teams will be offered opportunities to visit overseas companies. Graduates will also be given preferential benefits when applying for jobs at Hana Financial.

Hana Financial has operated a similar programme jointly with the regulator since 2022, producing 117 graduates and 12 hires within the group so far.