Shinhan Bank said Thursday that its “matrix operation,” or business coordination between banks and brokerages, has yielded considerable gains since it introduced the system last year.

As a fresh business concept, the matrix was adopted by the country’s major banks with an affiliate brokerage firm, such as Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank and Woori Bank, as early as the beginning of 2012.

Shinhan Bank is historically the first bank in Korea, originally established under the name Hanseong Bank in 1897. The bank was reestablished in 1982 as an affiliate of Shinhan Financial Group.

Shinhan Bank was among the first to launch its own matrix system in February 2012, selecting a group of employees from the corporate and investment banking unit and its affiliate Shinhan Investment Corp.’s investment banking unit.

Before the matrix, Shinhan Bank depended on traditional ways of cooperating with Shinhan Investment ― employees of each arm, giving simple oral briefings on joint-products.

But after the matrix went into effect, customers of Shinhan Bank can now benefit from package deals that provide one total financial solution to meet multiple financial needs.

“The matrix is a winning strategy for banks and brokerages. Before adopting the matrix, the traditional banking and investment banking had been constrained within smaller units,” a Shinhan Bank spokesperson said.

The matrix enabled Shinhan’s corporate and investment banking unit to issue “dimsum” bonds ― Hong Kong-issued bonds denominated in the yuan ― and offer equity financing that was generally offered by brokerages. The matrix helped Shinhan Bank diversify its sources of income and hence stabilize management.

The bank said that matrix has already shown substantial results. Shinhan matrix-based corporate and investment banking brought some 150 deals that tally to about 5.3 trillion won ($4.8 billion) by the end of 2012, while the investment market stayed down the whole year. The size showed a 200 percent growth compared to a year ago, before the launch of the matrix.

Shinhan Bank viewed 2012 as a year of consolidating the basic frame of Shinhan’s corporate and investment banking matrix system.

In 2013, the bank plans to secure a firm grip on Shinhan’s leading role in the country’s banking matrix system.

Developing a distinguished “Shinhan matrix” is the foremost goal for this year, Shinhan officials said. The Shinhan matrix will involve considerable expansion of business and sales operation in corporate and investment banking, they said.

By Chung Joo-won  (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)