Hana Financial
Founded in 1994, Hana Financial, Inc., is a Los Angeles-based commercial financial institution that provides trade finance, credit protection and collection services, SBA loans, and mortgage lending. They are one of the nation’s top factoring companies, ranking 7th in the nation and 3rd on the West Coast.
Company History
Hana Financial, Inc. originally offered equipment financing to small Korean-American apparel and textile businesses in the west coast region of the United States. The company specialized in factoring, a high-cost, short-term commercial lending transaction in which it purchases other companies’ invoices and takes collections. Typical clients were small businesses unable to secure financing from established lenders. Sunnie S. Kim co-founded Hana Financial with the late Charles Kim in 1994. She has served as President and CEO since January 2003. She is the first female chief executive in the Korean American financial industry.
Corporate Operations
The Company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York and Seattle. It also operates separate Small Business Administration (SBA) loan production offices in Denver, Chicago, and New York. Hana Financial secured a US Small Business Administration (SBA) lending license in 2007. SBA backing allowed the company to offer loans to an expanded client base. The company then added mortgage banking to their client services in 2010 and began offering credit insurance in 2011. In 2012, the firm reached a factoring volume of $1.8 billion and ranked among the top 10 factoring companies in the United States. That same year the company’s workforce doubled to 140. In 2012, they also completed the securitization and sale of $26.6 million non-guaranteed portions of SBA small business loans.
Awards and Recognition
In 2006, CEO Sunnie Kim became the first Asian American to receive the Spirit of Life Award from City of Hope. The company has carried the Small Business Administration’s Preferred Lender Program (PLP) designation since 2008, a title reserved for only the top SBA lenders. In 2012, the company’s trust notes earned an “A” rating from Standard and Poor’s. That same year, the company earned the honor of Los Angeles Business Journal’s Asian Business of the Year. CEO Sunnie Kim was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in financial services in the Greater Los Angeles Area in 2012.