Samsung Electronics is the sole vendor supplying private 5G network solutions for a smart office at Hana Financial Group's new headquarters in Incheon, South Korea — the first deployment of its kind in the country's financial sector.

The connected office spans 16 floors of the headquarters and serves multiple group affiliates and thousands of employees. SK Telecom collaborated with Samsung on the build. Employees use 5G-enabled laptops, tablets and mobile devices to access a work environment that follows them anywhere in the building.

The business case rests on more than convenience. According to Samsung, the enhanced connectivity allows more efficient use of office space, supports productivity and cuts the time and resources needed to reconfigure the building — while providing a foundation for enterprise AI transformation (AX).

Why 5G instead of Wi-Fi

Financial institutions handle highly sensitive data, including customers' credit and banking information, and operate under strict network-separation requirements. Wi-Fi adoption in the sector has traditionally been limited due to security concerns and cyber risks.

The project deploys a multi-layered security system featuring enhanced encryption, firewall protection, DDoS protection and USIM-based authentication. Network access is restricted to authorised devices and registered users. Samsung positions its private 5G offering as combining the complete isolation of wired networks with the convenience of wireless connectivity — a claim that commercial deployment at a major regulated financial group now tests in practice.

The network runs on 4.7GHz mid-band spectrum, the band South Korea's regulator has dedicated to private 5G networks. Samsung supplied its full stack of network solutions for the project, including radios, baseband and a cloud-native core.

Network slicing underpins the multi-affiliate setup. Samsung's 5G Standalone Core divides a single physical network into multiple virtual networks, each dedicated to a specific application. Under the deployment, Hana Financial Group's subsidiaries get access to separate network slices, giving each affiliate an independent operating environment tailored to its own security policies and business requirements.

Executive claims

"For AI and data to be used widely in day-to-day work, employees need a network that gives them secure, reliable access to internal systems and data from anywhere," said Kim Goo-Young, Head of Enterprise Business Office at SK Telecom. "Built on Samsung's core and radio solutions, that secure foundation is now in place — making this smart office a leading example of how we innovate the way the financial sector works."

Angelo Jeongho Park, Executive Vice President and Head of Strategic Sales, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics, framed the deployment as proof of the vendor's credentials in regulated industries. "This meaningful milestone underscores Samsung's leadership in deploying private 5G solutions that deliver even under the most stringent security standards required by regulated industries," he said. "By combining cutting-edge technology and our extensive commercial experiences across diverse industries — including manufacturing, finance, construction, IT and more — we are providing secure, tailored networks today while enabling businesses to seamlessly integrate AI-driven innovations."

The leadership framing is vendor marketing; the deployment facts — sole-vendor status, 16 floors, 4.7GHz spectrum, slicing per affiliate — are the substance. Samsung Networks develops 5G end-to-end solutions spanning chipsets, radios and core networks, and counts network operators worldwide as customers, supporting connectivity for hundreds of millions of users.

Samsung said ongoing R&D is advancing its 5G portfolio — which spans purpose-built RAN, vRAN, Open RAN, AI RAN, cloud-native AI core and automation tools such as CognitiV NOS — while laying the groundwork for 6G.