055550 - Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.

Shinhan Financial Amends ₩270 Billion AT1 Bond Terms, Shifting Proceeds Toward Debt Repayment

Shinhan Financial Group (KRX:055550) amended a July 23 board decision to issue up to ₩400 billion of write-down contingent capital securities (Korea's equivalent of Additional Tier 1 hybrid capital), confirming the first tranche at ₩270 billion with subscription and payment on September 14. The amendment splits the use of proceeds differently than originally stated: general operating funds fall from ₩270bn to ₩160bn, while ₩110bn is now earmarked for debt repayment that wasn't itemized before — the total raise is unchanged, only its internal allocation. The bonds are perpetual with no fixed maturity, carrying a call option Shinhan may exercise after five years (subject to regulator approval) every quarterly interest date thereafter; coupon and final size will be set by investor demand within the ₩400bn ceiling the board approved. The stated purpose is to boost Shinhan's Basel III capital ratio (BIS ratio) by adding Additional Tier 1 capital, distinct from its common equity Tier 1 buffer already discussed in prior analyses on this site.

Shinhan Approves 700bn Won of Buying To Be Cancelled, Plus One Stray Share

The board resolved on 23 July to spend 700bn won buying its own shares on the market through Shinhan Investment Securities between 31 July and 22 October, then destroy all of them. At the previous close of 104,500 won that comes to about 6,698,564 shares, roughly 1.43% of the 469,450,239 issued. KB resolved an identical 700bn on the same day, but because KB is larger that money retires only 1.13% of its share count. The cancellation is made under the proviso to Article 343(1) of the Commercial Act, out of distributable profit, so the number of issued shares falls while paid-in capital does not. The final count will differ from the estimate because it depends on the price paid. One line in the filing is worth reading for its own sake. Along with the 700bn, the board resolved to cancel a single share — a fractional holding left over from a past comprehensive share exchange — because Article 341-4 requires treasury acquired that way to be retired within a year. A group returning more than 2.8tn won this year stopped to disclose one share.

Q2 Dividend Set at 740 Won, Paid 28 August, With Q3 Dates Already Fixed

Shinhan declared 740 won a share for the second quarter, 347.4bn won in total on 469,450,238 shares, with a record date of 30 July and payment on 28 August. Annualising that rate against the 107,400 won close gives roughly 2.76% before tax. The more interesting content is the calendar. Article 165-12 of the Capital Markets Act was amended on 21 January 2025 to let boards set the quarterly record date rather than having it fixed at quarter-end, and Shinhan's board used it on 5 February 2026 to pre-announce all three of this year's record dates: 30 April, 30 July and 3 November, paying 29 May, 28 August and 27 November. So the amount was declared on 23 July, a week before the record date — under the old arrangement a Korean shareholder had to own the stock on the record date without knowing what the dividend would be. For a foreign holder that was the worst feature of Korean dividends, and it has quietly been fixed. The third-quarter amount will be set at a separate board meeting after the quarter closes.

Securities registration statement (debt securities)