As Hanwha Group decided on a holding company spin-off that carves out the machinery, robotics, and retail institutional sector, attention is turning to corporate governance restructuring to follow. The new holding company will consist of businesses led by Kim Dong-Sun, executive vice president and head of future vision, the third son of Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn, giving the partitioning meaning as the first step toward "independent management by the brothers." In business circles, many expect that the financial businesses overseen by second son Kim Dong-Won, president of Hanwha Life Insurance, are also likely to go through a separation process. Opinions are divided on the timing.
◇ Kim Dong-Kwan (defense, energy, shipbuilding), Kim Dong-Won (finance), Kim Dong-Sun (machinery, robotics, retail) 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 & Service Holdings," for businesses such as machinery and robotics, and retail 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 led. In effect, among Chairman Kim Seung-youn's three sons—Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan of Hanwha Group, President Kim Dong-Won, and Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun—Kim is the first to go out on his own.
Hanwha has assigned each of the three sons of Chairman Kim Seung-youn to posts in various institutional sectors with a view to long-term succession 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 of Hanwha Ocean. He oversees Hanwha Group's core businesses in defense, energy, and shipbuilding.
President Kim Dong-Won has long trained in the financial institutional sector. 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 effectively functions as the holding company. In addition, as part of responsible management, each holds small equity stakes in their key affiliates. Vice Chairman Kim Dong-Kwan owns 0.01% of defense firm Hanwha Aerospace, President Kim Dong-Won owns 0.03% of Hanwha Life Insurance, and Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun is the second-largest shareholder of Hanwha Galleria with 16.85%.
In business and financial markets, many view this spin-off as a prelude to a second partitioning in which President Kim Dong-Won separates the financial institutional sector, including Hanwha Life Insurance, from Hanwha Corp. to create "Hanwha Financial Holdings."
◇ Hanwha Life Insurance has a large weight within the group… a financial partitioning is likely to take a long time
Some, however, expect that partitioning the financial affiliates will take considerable time. Compared with the machinery, robotics, and retail institutional sector, the financial institutional sector has a far larger weight and role within the group, making it harder to split easily.
Hanwha Life Insurance's 2024 revenue (on a 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 level of Hanwha Life Insurance.
By contrast, Hanwha Hotels & Resorts, led by Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun, recorded 750.9 billion won, and Hanwha Galleria 538.3 billion won, both relatively small within the group.
Another reason cited for carefully weighing a financial institutional sector partitioning is that the government's push to ease regulations on the separation of industrial and financial capital has opened the way for group affiliates to use Hanwha Life Insurance's funds.
The separation of industrial and financial capital was introduced to prevent large corporations from controlling financial companies and exploiting them for de facto hereditary succession. But many have argued that the regulation has hindered the procurement of large-scale investment funds for advanced industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said at the "2026 work report" held on the 17th of last month and chaired by President Lee Jae-myung that it would also introduce a special exception allowing great-grandchild companies of holding companies to engage in financial lease businesses. This would create an exception to the principle of the separation of industrial and financial capital, which bars holding companies from owning financial firms. A financial lease is a business where a financial company acquires an asset and leases it to a client company for a fee.
While the measure first targets semiconductors and AI, it is likely to expand to other advanced industries over time. In that case, Hanwha could also create a leasing structure using Hanwha Life Insurance's funds to expand investment in its core businesses of defense, shipbuilding, and energy.
Different laws apply to partitioning the industrial and financial institutional sectors. In the industrial institutional sector, a spin-off and governance restructuring can be done relatively easily under the Commercial Act and the Fair Trade Act, but in the financial institutional sector, multiple regulatory requirements must be met, including the Financial Holding Companies Act, the Insurance Business Act, and major shareholder eligibility reviews.
◇ "President Kim Dong-Won needs to prove results in core finance" view as well
Some believe that for a financial partitioning, President Kim Dong-Won needs to deliver more results at Hanwha Life Insurance. While Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun has taken a leading role in recent years in businesses such as dining, hotels, and robotics, raising his profile, there is an assessment that President Kim Dong-Won has shown fewer standout moves in managing Hanwha's financial affiliates.
Executive Vice President Kim Dong-Sun led major new businesses and M&A, including bringing in and selling the U.S. burger chain Five Guys, acquiring catering company OURHOME, and launching the proprietary 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 at Hanwha Life Insurance for over 10 years and rose to president, but the posts he held—Enterprise Innovation Office, Digital Innovation Office, and chief digital officer (CDO)—are somewhat removed from the core of the financial business.
Hanwha Life Insurance is considered one of the top three life insurance companies along with Samsung Life Insurance and Kyobo Life Insurance. Its 2024 standalone net profit was 720.6 billion won, ranking second after Samsung Life Insurance (1.4869 trillion won). It is known that professional managers played a significant role in separating insurance product manufacturing and sales through the launch of subsidiary Hanwha Life Financial Services and expanding the corporate general agency (GA) channel.
However, some in the insurance industry note that since Kim was appointed CGO in 2023, results have begun to emerge in overseas business and global expansion. Hanwha Life Insurance recently acquired Indonesia's Nobu Bank and U.S. securities firm Velocity in succession. The cumulative net profit for the third quarter last year of four overseas subsidiaries—Hanwha Life Insurance's Vietnam and Indonesia units and HANWHA GENERAL INSURANCE's Indonesian unit Lippo General Insurance—was 49.0 billion won, up 22.5% from the same period a year earlier.
A business community source said, "Chairman Kim Seung-youn is known to hold a firm principle that a company is entrusted only when clear results are delivered in one's core area of responsibility."