South Korea’s Hana Financial Group said Thursday that it established a foundation focused on helping the nation’s youth overcome their social and financial issues.

The Stump Foundation for Youth will have three primary areas of focus: education and support for youth shelter residents, helping children and teens receive the welfare support they need and suicide prevention programs.

For children and teens in youth shelters, the foundation plans to help them become financially independent and launch one-on-one tutoring programs for their education. Youth shelters here provide temporary housing for runaway or homeless children and teens.

A meal program to help children and teens living in homes with physically or financially challenged parents receive a balanced diet coupled with a counseling program for victims of crime will be key parts of helping those who need welfare support.

In an effort to combat the high teen suicide rate in Korea, the foundation plans to cooperate with a group of experts in developing a special suicide prevention program. According to a recent report released by the government, the teen suicide rate in Korea is 1.4 times higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average.

The youth foundation marks the first of such kind among financial institutions here, and is part of Hana’s long-term goal focused on cultivating its environmental, social and governance values dubbed “Big Step for Tomorrow.”

“We will help bring about a meaningful change for the future generation and make efforts to resolve youth issues and help them grow in a healthy environment, in line with the group’s ESG values,” Hana Financial Group Kim Jung-tai said at the foundation’s launching ceremony held Thursday.

Hana currently has four foundations under its wing, especially focusing on bridging the gap between different income groups, including the Hana Foundation, Hana Nanum Foundation and Hana Microcredit, as well as the latest Stump Foundation for Youth.

Hana Financial Group is the nation’s third-largest banking group in terms of total assets.

By Jung Min-kyung (mkjung@heraldcorp.com)