Hana Bank to Cut Bad-Loan Ratio, Boost Clients to Raise Profit

Hana Bank, the lending unit of South Korea’s fourth-largest financial company, said it will cut bad loans and increase the number of clients to spur profit by about 20 percent this year.

Hana plans to trim the non-performing loan ratio to 1.3 percent this year from an estimated 1.5 percent for 2010, Chief Executive Officer Kim Jung Tai said yesterday in an interview in Seoul. The lender aims to increase the number of active domestic customers by 30 percent to 4.2 million, he said.