[1] It was determined to be insolvent during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, however, and was taken over by the Korean authorities, then merged into Hana Bank.
It soon expanded beyond that remit, however, by opening a branch in 1962 in the central Nampo-dong neighborhood of Busan.
Meanwhile, it was privatized in 1982,[3]: 161 as part of the limited financial liberalization effort undertaken by then-president Chun Doo-hwan.
[4]: 13 In December 1997, the Korean government took over Seoul Bank after it had been determined to be insolvent, diluting the existing shareholders by a factor of 8 to 1 under targeted emergency legislation.
[5] In February 1999, HSBC announced its purchase of a 70-percent stake,[2]: 35 but that proposed transaction was called off six months later.