“If the applicant drops names including mine, do not hire the person.” Mirae Asset Chairman Park Hyeon-joo wrote in his autobiography. Park is known for putting HR at the center of Mirae Asset Financial Group and cherry-picking talent through a rigorous evaluation and recruitment process. Mirae Asset Financial Group’s business philosophy is that ‘we value our people and embrace the future with an open mind.’
Park’s tenacious emphasis on HR is also mirrored in his thoroughgoing management of Mirae Asset Financial Group.
<>Streamlined corporate governance
Most Korean conglomerates maintain entangled ownership structures through a complex system of cross-shareholdings. On the other hand, Mirae Asset Financial Group has streamlined its management structure and pursued vertical integration in a sustainable manner, therefore giving an impetus to global expansion and investment activities.
Mirae Asset Financial Group features a vertically integrated governance structure in which Mirae Asset Capital, Mirae Asset Consulting and Mirae Asset Global Investments take center stage with Mirae Asset Securities and Mirae Asset Life Insurance as downstream businesses. Such a stable management structure has helped catapult Mirae Asset Financial Group, founded in 1997 with a capital of 10 billion won, smoothly to the top 20 in South Korea’s business community.
<>“Independent investment group”
Mirae Asset Global Investments, the largest fund manager in S. Korea, is evolving into a global asset management company. Mirae Asset Securities is spearheading total asset management services while Mirae Asset Life Insurance is driving innovation in the insurance market. Mirae Asset Financial Group consists of roughly 20 affiliates including Real Estate 114, a leading real estate portal that provides total real estate solutions.
Above all, the recent merger between Mirae Asset Securities and Daewoo Securities and the acquisition of KDB Asset Management (now Multi Asset Management) helped Mirae Asset Financial Group take a giant step towards becoming a global investment bank.
Though Mirae Asset Financial Group is a large financial group, it does not have a banking affiliate because investment specialist Mirae Asset judged that the business of banking did not tally with its corporate DNA. In contrast to other sprawling Korean conglomerates, Mirae Asset Financial Group has been committed to its core competencies, with a view to becoming a global investment group.
<>“Saying no to family succession”
Mirae Asset Financial Group has adopted a divisional CEO system whereby each division operates as an independent entity that mutually cooperates with other divisions to create synergy. Park lays out a big picture for where Mirae Asset should be headed while the independence of each division enables efficient decision making processes. Mirae Asset’s organizational structure based on delegation of authority is so systemically internalized that it prevents a single person’s judgment holding sway over the entire group.
Furthermore, Park has declared that he will break away from Korean conglomerate’s family succession and have Mirae Asset led by professional managers. His declaration had great resonance with corporate Korea.
<>“Practicing capitalism with consideration for others”
Park values making achievements over making money. In other words, he puts a high premium on increasing national wealth for individuals’ good retirement though wealth distribution, making social contributions by creating jobs through investments and nurturing Mirae Asset into a beloved, respectable company.
Park founded the Mirae Asset Park Hyeon Joo Foundation so as to make social contributions along the way not at the end of the road. Over the past six years, he has donated dividends of 18.4 billion won to talent nurturing programs and social welfare projects. His CSR philosophy is so pervasive across the board that all the members of Mirae Asset share the same value.
Such activities are believed to have served as the lodestar guiding Mirae Asset in the right direction and helped Mirae Asset stay the course in becoming a global investment company.
