Differences in Corporate Governance Practices

Introduction

We are committed to high standards of corporate governance. We are in compliance with the corporate governance provisions of the Korean Commercial Code, the Financial Holding Companies Act of Korea, the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and the Listing Rules of the Korea Exchange. We, like all other companies in Korea, must comply with the corporate governance provisions of the Korean Commercial Code. In addition, as a financial holding company, we are also subject to the Financial Holding Companies Act. Also, our subsidiaries that are financial institutions must comply with the respective corporate governance provisions under the relevant laws under which they were established.

We are a “foreign private issuer” (as such term is defined in Rule 3b-4 under the Exchange Act), and our ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE. Under Section 303A of the NYSE Listed Company Manual, NYSE-listed companies that are foreign private issuers are permitted to follow home country practice in lieu of the corporate governance provisions specified by the NYSE with limited exceptions. Under the NYSE Listed Company Manual, we as foreign private issuers are required to disclose significant differences between NYSE’s corporate governance standards and those we follow under Korean law. The following summarizes some significant ways in which our corporate governance practices differ from those followed by U.S. companies listed on the NYSE under the listing rules of the NYSE:

Majority of Independent Directors on the Board

Under the NYSE listing rules, U.S. companies listed on the NYSE must have a board the majority of which is comprised of independent director satisfying the requirements of “independence” as set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. While as a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from this requirement, but our board of directors is in compliance with this requirement as it currently consists of 12 directors, of which ten directors satisfy the requirements of “independence” as set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. Ten of our directors are also “outside directors” as defined in the Financial Holding Companies Act of Korea. An “outside director” for purposes of the Financial Holding Companies Act and the Korean Commercial Code means a director who does not engage in the regular affairs of the financial holding company, and who is elected at a shareholders meeting, after having been nominated by the outside director nominating committee, and none of the largest shareholder, those persons “specially related” to the largest shareholder of such company, persons who during the past two years have served as an officer or employee of such company, the spouses and immediate family members of an officer of such company, and certain other persons specified by law may qualify as an outside director of such company. Under the Korea Exchange listing rules and the Korean Commercial Code, at least one-fourth of a listed company’s directors must be outside directors provided that there must be at least three outside directors. In the case of “large listed companies” as defined under the Korean Commercial Code, like us, a majority of the directors must be outside directors.

Executive Session

Under the NYSE listing rules, non-management directors of U.S. companies listed on the NYSE are required to meet on a regular basis without management present and independent directors must meet separately at least once per year. There is no such requirement under Korean law or listing standards or our internal regulations.

Audit Committee

Under the NYSE listing rules, listed companies must have an audit committee that has a minimum of three members, and all audit committee members must satisfy the requirements of independence set forth in Section 303A.02 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. We are in compliance with this requirement as our audit committee comprises of four outside directorsmeeting the requirements of independence set forth in Section 303A.02 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual and Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. Under the Korea Exchange listing rules and the Korean Commercial Code, a large listed company must also establish an audit committee of which at least two-thirds of its members must be outside directors and whose chairman must be an outside director. In addition, at least one member of the audit committee who is an outside director must also be an accounting or financial expert. We are also in compliance with the foregoing requirements.

Nomination/Corporate Governance Committee

Under the NYSE listing rules, U.S. companies listed on the NYSE must have a nomination/corporate governance committee composed entirely independent directors. In addition to identifying individuals qualified to become board members, this committee must develop and recommend to the board a set of corporate governance principles. Under the Korean Commercial Code and other applicable laws, large listed companies, financial holding companies, commercial banks, and certain other financial institutions are required to have an outside director nominating committee of which at least one-half of its members are required to be outside directors. However, there is no requirement to establish a corporate governance committee under applicable Korean law. We currently have a board steering committee which manages corporate governance practices applicable to us. Our outside director nominating committee is formed on an ad hoc basis prior to a general shareholders meeting if the agenda for such meeting includes appointment of an outside director. The composition of the committee is in compliance with the relevant provisions under the Korean Commercial Code and the chairman of the committee must be an outside director pursuant to our outside director recommendation committee regulations. The board steering committee consists of five directors, including four outside directors.

A nomination/corporate governance committee is not required under Korean law. However, in March 2012, we established the Corporate Governance and Chief Executive Officer Recommendation Committee, which is responsible for reviewing and making recommendations in relation to the overall corporate governance of our group (including any aspects of corporate governance relating to code of ethics and other code of behavior, size of the board of directors and other matters necessary for improving our overall corporate governance structure), as well as recommendation of the nominees for the president and/or chief executive officer of our group and development, operation and review of our management succession plan, including setting the qualifications for the CEO, evaluating CEO candidate pool and recommending CEO candidates. The chairperson of the committee must be an outside director, and the incumbent CEO may be restricted from participating and voting on matters related to the CEO selection.

Compensation Committee

Under the NYSE listing rules, U.S. companies listed on the NYSE are required to have a compensation committee which is composed entirely of independent directors. In January 2013, the SEC approved amendments to the listing rules of NYSE and NASDAQ regarding the independence of compensation committee members and the appointment, payment and oversight of compensation consultants. The listing rules were adopted as required by Section 952 of the Dodd-Frank Act and rule 10C-1 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which direct the national securities exchanges to prohibit the listing of any equity security of a company that is not in compliance with the rule’s compensation committee director and advisor independence requirements. Certain elements of the listing rules became effective on July 1, 2013 and companies listed on the NYSE must comply with such listing rules by the earlier of the company’s first annual meeting after January 15, 2014, or October 31, 2014.

While no such requirement currently exists under applicable Korean law or listing standards, such committee is recommended to be established under the model guidelines set by the Financial Supervisory Service in relation to executives’ performance pay.

We currently have a compensation committee, which is responsible for reviewing and approving the management’s evaluation and compensation programs. The committee consists of four members, all of whom are outside directors and satisfy the independent director requirements as set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act.

Corporate Governance Guidelines and Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

Under the NYSE listing rules, U.S. companies listed on the NYSE are required to establish corporate governance guidelines and to adopt a code of business conduct and ethics for directors, officers and employees, and promptly disclose any waivers of the code for directors or executive officers. As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from this requirement. In Korea, the Financial Services Commission implemented the Standard Corporate Governance Guidelines for Financial Service Companies in December 2014, and accordingly, we have adopted in February 2015 and are currently complying with international regulators on corporate governance modeled after the standard guidelines implemented by the Financial Services Commission, Pursuant to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we have adopted a code of ethics applicable to all the officers and employees of our holding company and our subsidiaries, including all financial, accounting and other officers and employees that are involved in the preparation and disclosure of Shinhan Financial Group’s consolidated financial statements and internal control of financial reporting. As a further detailed guideline to the code of ethics, we have also established a supplemental code of behavior for all officers and employees of our holding company and our subsidiaries in order to provide additional guideline for the performance of their work-related duties as well as their daily behavior. We have also adopted an insider reporting system in compliance with Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The above-mentioned code of ethics and the code of behavior are available on our website www.shinhangroup.com.

On May 25, 2011, the SEC adopted final rules to implement whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act, which are applicable to foreign private issuers with securities registered under the U.S. securities laws. The final rules provide that any eligible whistleblower who voluntarily provides the SEC with original information that leads to the successful enforcement of an action brought by the SEC under U.S. securities laws must receive an award of between 10 and 30 percent of the total monetary sanctions collected if the sanctions exceed $1,000,000. An eligible whistleblower is defined as someone who provides information about a possible violation of the securities laws that he or she reasonably believes has occurred, is ongoing, or is about to occur. The possible violation does not need to be material, probably or even likely, but the information must have a “facially plausible relationship to some securities law violation”; frivolous submissions would not qualify. The final rules also prohibit retaliation against the whistleblower. While the final rules do not require employees to first report allegations of wrongdoing through a company’s corporate compliance system, they do seek to incentivize whistleblowers to utilize internal corporate compliance first by, among other things, (i) giving employees who first report information internally the benefit of the internal reporting date for purposes of the SEC program so long as the whistleblower submits the same information to the SEC within 120 days of the initial disclosure; (ii) clarifying that the SEC will consider, as part of the criteria for determining the amount of a whistleblower’s award, whether the whistleblower effectively utilized the company’s corporate compliance program or hindered the function of the program; and (iii) crediting a whistleblower who reports internally first and whose company passes the information along to the SEC, which would mean the whistleblower could receive a potentially higher award for information gathered in an internal investigation initiated as a result of the whistleblower’s internal report.

In addition, the final rules address concerns that the whistleblower rules incentivize officers, directors and those with legal, audit, compliance or similar responsibilities to abuse these positions by making whistleblower complaints to the SEC with respect to information they obtained in these roles by generally providing that information obtained through a communication subject to attorney-client privilege or as a result of legal representation would not be eligible for a whistleblower award unless disclosure would be permitted by attorney conduct rules. Accordingly, officers and directors, auditors and compliance personnel and other persons in similar roles would not be eligible to receive awards for information received in these positions unless (x) they have a reasonable basis to believe that (1) disclosure of the information is necessary to prevent the entity from engaging in conduct that is likely to cause substantial injury to the financial interests of the entity or investors; or (2) the entity is engaging in conduct that will impede an investigation of the misconduct, for example, destroying documents or improperly influencing witnesses; or (y) 120 days has passed since the whistleblower provided the information to senior responsible persons at the entity or 120 days has passed since the whistleblower received the information at a time when these people were already aware of the information.

There is no corresponding law or regulation in Korea. However, we have established corporate governance guidelines and code of business conduct and ethics through our Corporate Governance and Chief Executive Officer Recommendation Committee.

Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans

Under the NYSE listing rules, shareholders of U.S. companies listed on the NYSE are required to approve all equity compensation plans. Under Korean law, if a company issues stock options amounting to 10% or more of its issued and outstanding shares, only a board of director resolution is required for such issuance if permitted by such company’sarticles of incorporation.Under our articles of incorporation, we may also grant stock options, but since April 1, 2010, we have not granted any stock options. We currently have two equity compensation plans, consisting of a performance share plan for directors and key employees and an employee stock ownership plan for all employees under the Framework Act on Labor Welfare. In accordance with our internal regulations, performance shares granted to directors are granted pursuant to a resolution by the board of director, subject to the limit amount set by a resolution at the shareholders’ meeting while performance shares granted to key employees are granted pursuant to a resolution by the board of director, without any requirement that the limit amount be approved at the shareholders’ meeting. There are no requirements relating to the granting of performance shares under applicable Korean laws and our articles of incorporation. Under the Framework Act on Labor Welfare, a Korean company may issue stock options up to 20% of its issued and outstanding shares by a resolution at the shareholders’ meeting, if permitted by the articles of incorporation. Our articles of incorporation does not contain such provision. The equity compensation scheme for the employee stock ownership association is governed by its internal regulations, over which we have no control under Korean law.

Annual Certification of Compliance

Under the NYSE listing rules, a chief executive officer of a U.S. company listed on the NYSE must annually certify that he or she is not aware of any violation by the company of NYSE corporate governance standards. As a foreign private issuer, we are not subject to this requirement. However, in accordance with rules applicable to both U.S. companies and foreign private issuers, we are required to promptly notify the NYSE in writing if any executive officer becomes aware of any material noncompliance with the NYSE corporate governance standards applicable to us. In addition, foreign private issuers, including us, are required to submit to the NYSE an annual written affirmation relating to compliance with Sections 303A.06 and 303A.11 of the NYSE listed company manual, which are the NYSE corporate governance standards applicable to foreign private issuers. All written affirmations must be executed in the form provided by the NYSE, without modification. An annual written affirmation is required to be submitted to the NYSE within 30 days of filing with the SEC our annual report on Form 20-F. We have been in compliance with this requirement in all material respects and plan to submit such affirmation within the prescribed time line