Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, right, poses with Alex Heath, head of Australia's Climate and Energy Division under the Commonwealth Treasury, at the division's office in Canberra, Friday (local time). Courtesy of Hana Financial Group

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo met with Alex Heath, head of Australia's Climate and Energy Division under the Commonwealth Treasury, in the latest efforts to identify joint green investment and business opportunities with investors in Oceania, the group said Sunday.

The meeting came during Ham's three-day visit to Australia from Wednesday to Friday. It was his first investor relations activity in Oceania organized at the request of Hana's major institutional equity investors keen to understand the group's global environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) growth initiatives. The back-to-back meetings followed one in Hong Kong.

Foreign investors, Hana said, showed interest in Korea's Corporate Value-up Program, a financial drive of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration to reinvigorate the stagnant local equity market defined by chronic undervaluation.

Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, right, and Alex Heath, second from left, head of Australia's Climate and Energy Division under the Commonwealth Treasury, discuss ways to advance green finance business opportunities during a meeting at the division's office in Canberra, Friday (local time). Courtesy of Hana Financial Group

The two discussed green finance investments mediated by Australia's Clean Energy Finance Corp., the world's largest green bank. A green bank is a financial institution, typically public or quasi-public, that spearheads public-private partnerships to advance clean, innovative financing techniques and market development.

Heath assessed Hana Financial's ESG management highly, both in Korea and overseas.

The group's climate change action plans were in line with global ESG drives, she said, a feat highlighted further by its efforts to tackle Korea's low birthrates and youth unemployment as well as social responsibility programs to aid the underprivileged.

Of significant note is the Sydney branch of Hana Bank, the group's bank subsidiary, as recognized by the government of Australia as well as market participants at large for leading ESG finance.

The branch's sustainability-linked loans, green loans and renewables investments are practices exemplary of sustainable financial services, she said.

The Sydney branch is a participant in Australia's government-led Smart Meter Project whereby meters will be replaced with remote control electronic systems to bolster energy efficiency and save costs.

Hana Financial has, she added, made great strides in climate change responses and ESG practices, achieving nearly 45 percent of its medium- to long-term strategic goals in just three years after the declaration of the group's carbon neutrality objectives.

"We hope Hana Financial, a major global financial market player in Australia, will continue to fortify investments and cooperation opportunities with Australia," she said.

Ham in response said the group is "committed to collaborative efforts to advance carbon neutrality and value creation."