Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo speaks at a seminar on productive finance at the Korea Federation of Banks' convention hall in Seoul on Thursday. (Hana Financial Group) Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said "productive finance" should extend beyond support for advanced industries to include traditional manufacturing and smaller businesses, arguing that industrial and financial policies must work more closely together as technological change reshapes the economy.Ham made the remarks at a joint seminar on productive finance — investments that focus on infrastructure and productive industries rather than speculative returns — hosted by the Hana Institute of Finance, Korea Institute of Finance and Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade on Thursday.The seminar examined ways to strengthen productive finance amid growing geopolitical uncertainty and supply chain realignment. Key topics were the role of finance in the industrial transformation, cooperation between policy and private sector finance, and support frameworks for strategic industries.Ham emphasized the need for closer coordination between industrial and financial policies to strengthen Korea's competitiveness in advanced industries."Industrial ecosystems at home and abroad are rapidly shifting toward technology-driven sectors such as artificial intelligence, data and energy," Ham said. "Financial and industrial policies should be closely linked as complementary pillars of the nation's growth strategy."He said private sector financial institutions should move beyond simply providing capital by identifying and supporting companies with long-term growth potential."The true role of finance is to support companies throughout their entire journey — from founding and growth to innovation and renewal," he said.Ham also stressed that productive finance should be paired with inclusive finance."Productive finance is only complete when it goes beyond fostering future advanced industries and also supports the traditional manufacturing sectors and smaller businesses that underpin the broader industrial ecosystem," he said.Hana Financial said it had increased its productive finance target for this year to 17.8 trillion won ($11.7 billion), up 1.6 trillion won from its original plan.The group plans to allocate 2.5 trillion won to the National Growth Fund and other investment initiatives, another 2.5 trillion won to direct investments including advanced industries and venture capital, and 12.8 trillion won to lending programs aimed at supporting strategic industries.