As Hanwha Group decided on a spin-off of its holding company, carving out the machinery, robotics, and distribution institutional sector, attention is turning to the corporate governance overhaul that will follow. The new holding company will be composed of businesses led by Kim Dong-Sun, the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, so this partitioning is meaningful as the first step toward "independent management by the brothers." In business circles, there is also a strong outlook that the financial business overseen by the second son, Kim Dong-Won, president of Hanwha Life Insurance, will likely go through a separation phase. Opinions, however, are divided on the timing.
◇ Kim Dong-Kwan (defense, energy, shipbuilding), Kim Dong-Won (finance), Kim Dong-Sun (machinery, robotics, distribution) lineup
Hanwha's holding company, Hanwha Corp., held a board meeting on the 14th and approved a spin-off plan to establish a new holding company, "Hanwha Machinery & Services Holdings," for businesses in machinery and robotics, and distribution and leisure.
Under the new holding company will be Hanwha Vision, Hanwha Semitec, Hanwha Momentum, Hanwha Robotics, Hanwha Galleria, Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, and OURHOME, businesses that Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun has led. In effect, among Chairman Kim Seung-youn's three sons — Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan, President Kim Dong-Won, and Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun — Kim, the executive vice president, is the first to "go it alone."
Hanwha has assigned each of the three sons to posts in each business institutional sector with long-term succession in mind since they began participating in management.
Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan serves as CEO of Hanwha Corp., while also serving as CEO of Hanwha Aerospace, CEO of Hanwha Solutions, and outside director at Hanwha Ocean. He oversees Hanwha Group's core businesses of defense, energy, and shipbuilding.
President Kim Dong-Won has undergone management training in the financial institutional sector for a long time. Since 2015, he has built his career at Hanwha Life Insurance and currently serves as chief global officer (CGO). Hanwha Life Insurance also controls affiliates such as HANWHA GENERAL INSURANCE, Hanwha Investment & Securities, Hanwha Asset Management, and Hanwha Savings Bank.
The three hold 100% of Hanwha Energy, the largest shareholder of Hanwha Corp., which serves as the de facto holding company. In addition, as part of responsible management, they each hold small separate stakes in their key affiliates. Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan holds 0.01% equity in defense company Hanwha Aerospace; President Kim Dong-Won holds 0.03% equity in Hanwha Life Insurance. Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun is the second-largest shareholder of Hanwha Galleria with 16.85% equity.
In business and financial markets, many view this spin-off as a prelude to a second partitioning in which President Kim Dong-Won would carve out the financial institutional sector, including Hanwha Life Insurance, from Hanwha Corp. to create and take "Hanwha Financial Holdings."
◇ Hanwha Life Insurance's weight in the group is large… a financial partitioning may take a long time
Some, however, expect that splitting off financial affiliates will take considerable time. Compared with the machinery, robotics, and distribution institutional sector, the financial institutional sector has a much larger weight and role within the group, making it difficult to divide quickly.
Hanwha Life Insurance's 2024 revenue (consolidation basis) was 24.5852 trillion won, the highest among all affiliates excluding Hanwha Corp. Hanwha Solutions posted 12.3940 trillion won, Hanwha Aerospace 11.2401 trillion won, and Hanwha Ocean 10.7760 trillion won, all about half the size of Hanwha Life Insurance.
By contrast, Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, led by Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun, posted 750.9 billion won, and Hanwha Galleria recorded 538.3 billion won, relatively small within the group.
Another reason cited for carefully reviewing a financial institutional sector partitioning is that the government's move to ease regulations on the separation of industrial and financial capital would open the door for group affiliates to tap funds from Hanwha Life Insurance.
The separation of industrial and financial capital was introduced to prevent large corporations from controlling financial companies and abusing them for expedient succession, among other issues. But many have pointed out that the regulation has hindered the raising of large-scale investment funds for advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
On the 17th of last month, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said at the "2026 work report" presided over by President Lee Jae-myung that it would also introduce a special exception allowing a holding company's great-grandchild company to engage in the financial lease business. This would be an exception to the separation principle that prohibits a holding company from owning a financial company. A financial lease is a business in which a financial company acquires an asset and leases it to a client company for a fee.
While this measure initially targeted semiconductors and AI, the scope will likely expand to other advanced industries. In that case, Hanwha could also create a leasing structure using Hanwha Life Insurance's funds to expand investment in its main businesses, including defense, shipbuilding, and energy.
Different laws apply to partitioning the industrial and financial institutional sectors. For the industrial institutional sector, spin-offs and governance restructuring can be done relatively easily under the Commercial Act and the Fair Trade Act, but the financial institutional sector must satisfy various regulatory requirements, including the Financial Holding Company Act, the Insurance Business Act, and fit-and-proper reviews for major shareholders.
◇ View also says, "President Kim Dong-Won must prove results in core finance business"
In business circles, some say President Kim Dong-Won needs to deliver more results at Hanwha Life Insurance to enable a financial partitioning. That is because, while Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun has taken a leading role in businesses such as dining, hotels, and robotics in recent years and raised his profile, assessments say President Kim Dong-Won has rarely shown standout moves in managing Hanwha's financial affiliates.
Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun led major new businesses and M&A, including the introduction and sale of the U.S. hamburger chain Five Guys, the acquisition of food service company OURHOME, and the launch of the independent ice cream brand "Benson." He currently serves as head of future vision at Hanwha Galleria, Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, and Hanwha Vision.
President Kim Dong-Won has worked for about a decade at Hanwha Life Insurance and rose to president, but the posts he has held — enterprise innovation office, digital innovation office, and chief digital officer (CDO) — are somewhat removed from the essence of the financial business.
Hanwha Life Insurance is regarded as one of the top three life insurers along with Samsung Life Insurance and Kyobo Life Insurance. In 2024, it ranked second in standalone net profit at 720.6 billion won, following Samsung Life Insurance (1.4869 trillion won). It is known that professional managers played a major role in the process of separating insurance product manufacturing and sales through the launch of subsidiary Hanwha Life Financial Service, and expanding the general agency (GA) channel.
An industry source said, "Chairman Kim Seung-youn is known to have a firm principle that a company is entrusted only when clear results are achieved in each person's core area of responsibility."