Chohung Bank

Not to be confused with Chang Hwa Bank of Taiwan.

Chohung Bank Co., Ltd.

Native name	주식회사 조흥은행
Industry	Banking
Founded	February 1, 1897 (1897-02-01)
Defunct	April 1, 2006 (2006-04-01)
Fate	Merged with Shinhan Bank
Successor	Shinhan Bank
Headquarters	Seoul, South Korea
Products	Financial services

Chohung Bank
Hangul	조흥은행
Hanja	朝興銀行
Revised Romanization	Joheung Eunhaeng
McCune–Reischauer	Chohŭng Ŭnhaeng

Former branch of Chohung Bank in Incheon between 1945 and 1958, originally built in 1892 for Japan's 58th Bank, also used in the meantime by Yasuda Bank

Chohung Bank Co., Ltd. (CHB; Korean: 주식회사 조흥은행; Hanja: 株式會社 朝興銀行; RR: Jusikhoesa Joheung Eunhaeng) was a bank company headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the successor in 1943 of Hanseong Bank (Korean: 한성은행; Hanja: 漢城銀), established in 1897 and sometimes referred to as Korea's first bank. By the mid-1990s, Chohung Bank was one of the five most prominent banks in South Korea, together with Korea First Bank, Korea Commercial Bank, Hanil Bank, and Seoul Bank. It was negatively affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and eventually merged into Shinhan Financial Group in 2003-2006.

Korean Empire and Japanese rule

Hanseong Bank was established on 19 February 1897. The Bank was successful because despite lending out money at twice the rate it borrowed it at, the bank's interest rates were still far lower than what could be obtained elsewhere in Korea at that time. In an anecdotal story the bank's first property to use as collateral on a loan happened to be a donkey. The bank staff were challenged to feed and care for their collateral as the loan was out.

The bank was renamed Chohung on 1 October 1943 following its merger with Dong Il Bank (est. 1906).

In South Korea

With the division of Korea, as with other banks previously controlled by Japanese interests, the respective operations of Chohung Bank were taken over by public authorities on both sides of the 38th parallel. In North Korea, they were soon merged into the central bank within the country's monobank system.

In South Korea, Chohung Bank was privatized under the government of Syngman Rhee in 1950s, then nationalized again in 1961 by new military government following the May 16 coup. It became one of the five largest commercial banks in South Korea. Its headquarters at 14 Namdaemunro in Seoul was destroyed by fire, and eventually replaced with a new building in December 1966. It was again privatized in 1983, as part of the limited financial liberalization effort undertaken by then-president Chun Doo-hwan.

Chohung Bank fell under financial trouble during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In December 1998, it announced its merger with two other financial institutions, Kangwon Bank (est. 1970) and Hyundai Merchant Bank, with simultaneous public recapitalization which resulted in the Korean government owning 90 percent of the merged entity's equity capital. By late 2002, the government still held 80 percent of Chohung Bank's equity.

Shinhan Bank acquired a majority stake in 2003, then full ownership in 2004, then merged with it in April 2006, a combination encouraged by the South Korean government to foster economies of scale in the banking sector. Given the prestige associated with Chohung's history, however, the merger's structure preserved the legal entity of Chohung Bank which was renamed Shinhan Bank. As a consequence, Shinhan Bank views itself as the oldest bank in Korea.

See also

• Chohung Bank FC
• Shinhan Financial Group
• List of banks in South Korea