Shinhan Financial Group (A)

Mr. Young Hwi Choi, president and CEO of Shinhan Financial Group, embarked on an unconventional post-merger integration strategy with recently acquired Chohung Bank. The strategy focused on integrating traditional operations while attending to employees' reactions to change, especially the unionized workers at Chohung, an older bank that had recently fallen into decline, compared with the success of younger, more entrepreneurial Shinhan Bank. Once complete, the new bank would make Shinhan Financial Group the second largest bank in South Korea. Managing change involved a period called "dual bank" in which Shinhan and Chohung operated in parallel while undergoing an "emotional integration."