The company was established in 1971 as Korea Investment & Finance, the nation’s first financial company established, financed solely by private fund. 'Hana' is a word in Korean meaning "one" or "unity", and Hana Financial Group's symbol, "ㅎ", represents the first consonant of 'Hana or 하나' in Korean.

Hana Bank, Hana Financial Group’s primary banking subsidiary, was converted into a commercial bank in 1991. Hana Bank went through P&A with Chungchong Bank and M&A with Boram Bank in 1998, and acquired Seoul Bank in 2002. Then it continued its expansion by acquiring Daehan Investment and Securities, Korea’s second-largest asset management company, in May 2005. The most recent expansion was made in 2012, when it decided to purchase Korea Exchange Bank.

Hana Financial Group is in charge of setting up group-level business strategies and providing management resources to subsidiaries, including Hana Bank, Korea Exchange Bank, Hana Daetoo Securities, Hana SK Card, Hana Life Insurance, Hana Capital, Hana Asset Trust, Hana I&S, Hana Institute of Finance, and Hana Savings Bank