The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority is moving to nurture a global finance hub that links Songdo’s foundation of international organizations and climate finance with Cheongna’s private-sector and digital finance. Following Songdo, home to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the World Bank Group’s Korea Office, some 4,000 finance and IT professionals from major affiliates of Hana Financial Group will gather in Cheongna starting next month, expanding the financial infrastructure of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) along two axes.
 [코리안투데이] A view of Songdo International City in Incheon, where international organizations are clustered © 장형임 기자 |
The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority (hereinafter the IFEZ Authority) is launching a full-scale effort to build a global finance hub linking Songdo and Cheongna. On top of Songdo, which has cultivated a base for international organizations and climate and development finance since attracting the GCF Secretariat in 2012, Cheongna will see a large concentration of Hana Financial Group affiliates and professionals from this September, giving the IFEZ Authority added momentum for an investment-attraction strategy that connects the two districts.
IFEZ began building its international finance base in earnest with the attraction of the GCF Secretariat in 2012. The GCF is an international organization established to help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change. At the time, six countries — the Republic of Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Poland and Namibia — competed to host the Secretariat. After Incheon was selected as Korea’s candidate city in March 2012, the city joined the government in the international bid, while the IFEZ Authority provided wide-ranging support, including building a cooperation framework among relevant agencies and assisting with settlement and early operations.
Accessibility to Incheon International Airport, urban infrastructure capable of hosting international business, Songdo’s competitiveness as an eco-friendly smart city, the global talent of the Incheon Global Campus, and the leadership of Korea’s green-growth policy together with the support of the central government and Incheon all worked in its favor. As a result, at the 2nd GCF Board meeting held in Songdo on October 20, 2012, Incheon was finalized as the host city, and after the conclusion of a headquarters agreement and preparations to launch the organization, the GCF Secretariat officially opened in Songdo on December 4, 2013.
The GCF has steadily grown its operations since its launch. At the 44th GCF Board meeting held at the Songdo headquarters in March 2026, the fund approved 960.30 million dollars in investment for 18 new climate projects, bringing its total portfolio to more than 354 projects and 20 billion dollars. About 400 staff from roughly 70 countries currently work at the Songdo headquarters, occupying the 9th through 24th floors of G-Tower, and each of the GCF Board meetings held twice a year draws more than 350 officials from national governments, international organizations and development finance institutions. With the GCF this year also moving to establish a system of global regional offices — expanding its field presence while continuing to oversee climate finance operations from Songdo — Songdo’s standing as an international city is expected to be further strengthened.
The GCF’s arrival led to the attraction of another international financial institution the following year. To develop Songdo as a specialized international finance district and a Northeast Asian business hub linked to the GCF, Incheon and the IFEZ Authority worked to attract the World Bank Group’s Korea Office, and after activities such as providing office space through the enactment of an ordinance, the Songdo location was confirmed in 2013. That October, the Korean government and the World Bank Group signed an establishment agreement, and the Korea Office officially opened on December 4.
At the time of the Songdo office’s opening, the World Bank Group praised Songdo as one of the world’s models of a smart, green city. The Korea Office, which had 10 staff at its launch, has since grown to 20 and carries out projects in areas such as health care and the digital economy for developing countries together with the Korean government. Operating as a ‘Global Center for Innovation and Technology’ for sustainable development, it connects Korea’s innovation, technology and development experience with countries around the world. The successive arrivals of the GCF and the World Bank are significant beyond the mere attraction of international organizations, marking international recognition of the competitiveness of the global urban infrastructure that IFEZ has built over many years.
IFEZ’s financial infrastructure has expanded beyond Songdo to Cheongna. If Songdo is the base for international organizations and climate and development finance, Cheongna is a new hub for private-sector and digital finance centered on Hana Financial Group. Incheon and the IFEZ Authority have pursued the project over 15 years since signing a finance-town development agreement with Hana Financial Group in 2012. An integrated data center consolidating the IT infrastructure of the group’s core affiliates (phase 1) took root in 2017, followed by the Hana Global Campus (phase 2) in 2019, and with the completion of the phase-3 group headquarters (HQ) in May this year, the Hana Dream Town development project has effectively entered its final stage.
From this September through the end of the year, about 2,200 executives and employees of 10 affiliates, including Hana Financial Group, Hana Bank and Hana Securities, will relocate to Cheongna in phases. Including the personnel already based there, 4,000 finance and IT professionals will work at Hana Dream Town. This means Cheongna has secured an anchor-company effect that draws in financial firms and related industries.
Building on this, the IFEZ Authority plans to attract investment from digital finance companies in areas such as digital assets and blockchain to Cheongna. As the locational competitiveness of its proximity to Incheon International Airport is combined with the global network of Hana Financial Group, which operates in more than 20 countries, synergy is also expected in attracting investment from overseas financial institutions and foreign-affiliated firms. In addition, the plan is to link Songdo’s international organizations such as the GCF and the World Bank with Cheongna’s financial-industry base to expand cooperation between international finance networks and private financial firms, and to actively draw investment in IFEZ from digital finance companies in fintech, blockchain and data. Going forward, the authority will also explore the potential to nurture specialized financial industries that leverage Incheon’s industrial characteristics, such as aviation and ship finance, in connection with key hubs including the Cheongna City Tower.
Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae said, ‘From attracting the GCF and the World Bank to Songdo to bringing Hana Financial Group to Cheongna, today’s achievements were not made overnight but are the result of more than 20 years of laying the foundation of a global city and building trust with the world.’ He added, ‘With Songdo’s international organizations and climate finance and Cheongna’s private-sector and digital finance as its two axes, we will elevate the Incheon Free Economic Zone into a global finance and business city that draws attention not only in Korea but around the world.’
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