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Sang Hwan LEE Attorney

T.+82-2-3703-1074 F.+82-2-737-9091/9092
Sang Hwan LEE Attorney
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Sang Hwan LEE Attorney

Sang Hwan LEEAttorney

T.+82-2-3703-1074 F.+82-2-737-9091/9092 E.shlee@kimchang.com

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Areas of Expertise

Bio

Sang Hwan Lee is a senior attorney at Kim & Chang’s Finance & Capital Markets Department.

Recognized as one of the premier finance lawyers in Korea, Mr. Lee practices in a wide range of areas related to finance, with a focus on banking, securities laws and regulations, and mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions. He also has extensive experience advising clients in transactions and disputes involving financial derivatives, structured finance and corporate finance matters. As a member of the Japan Practice at the firm, Mr. Lee also advises a broad range of Japanese financial institutions.

Mr. Lee's representative matters in recent years include advising on major M&As and restructurings of domestic banks and post-transaction integration, disputes related to financial derivatives products, and financial institutions’ information leakage cases. He also has represented financial institutions investigated by the Financial Supervisory Service, the Fair Trade Commission and the Prosecutors’ Office.

Mr. Lee has acted as an outside advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economy as a member of the ministry's Financial Industry Deliberation Committee. He was also a member of the ministry's Task Force for Improvement of Credit Information System.

He also worked as a foreign visiting attorney at Matsuo & Kosugi in Tokyo in 1990 and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York in 1993.

Mr. Lee has regularly authored various publications, including the “Banking Regulation Review (1st-5th Edition): Korea chapter” (Law Business Research, 2010-2014) and “Getting the Deal Through - Banking Regulation (1st-6th Edition): Korea chapter” (Law Business Research, 2008-2015). He also co-authored the “IFLR February 2012 - Basel III Guide 2012: Korea chapter” (IFLR, 2012) and the “Guide to Lending and Taking Security in Asia (2nd-3rd Edition): Korea chapter” (Herbert Smith, 2010 & 2014).

Mr. Lee received an LL.M. from Cornell Law School in 1993 and an LL.B. from Seoul National University College of Law in 1982. Mr. Lee graduated from the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea in 1984 and is admitted to the New York bar and the Korea bar.

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Profile

Experience

  • Advisor, Financial Industry Deliberation Committee, Ministry of Finance and Economy (2006-2008)
  • Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York (1993)
  • Matsuo & Kosugi, Tokyo (1990)
  • Kim & Chang (1988-Present)
  • Judge Advocate, Republic of Korea Air Force (1985-1988)
     

Representative Mattersshow

KIKO litigations
 
  • Led and actively engaged in the defense of the major commercial banks in the KIKO lawsuits, filed by companies in Korea against the banks, in which the plaintiffs raised a wide variety of arguments ranging from fundamental challenges to the structural fairness of the product and the appropriateness of KIKO as a currency risk hedging product to case-specific tort arguments. 
 
M&A/Restructuring
 
  • Actively involved in key M&As of major banks and post-transaction integration processes and business transfers/restructurings of major banks and foreign bank branches in Korea 
 
Tax audits
 
  • Assisted foreign financial institutions to obtain a decision of the tax authorities in which only minimum tax assessments on minor errors were imposed and the banks’ transfer pricing policies and cross border transactions were concluded to be generally in compliance with Korean transfer pricing regulations 
 
Financial regulatory services/Audits of banks and capital companies/Financial business license applications
 
  • Analyzed the direction of any new financial regulatory policies that may be implemented and how it could impact the new regulatory environment. 
  • Assisted numerous financial institutions to acquire financial investment business licenses and foreign bank branch licenses and obtain approval for closure of bank branches.  
 
Crisis management relating to information leakage incidents of financial institutions
 
  • Advised on the crisis that immediately followed the information leakage incidents which could have caused criminal, civil and administrative liabilities and could have brought harm to the company’s credibility and reputation.  
  • Advised on the ensuing regulatory and litigation repercussions

Representative Activitiesshow

Awards

  • Stand-out Lawyer, Independently Rated Lawyers (Thomson Reuters, 2022-2024) 
  • Leading Lawyer, Asialaw Profiles (Euromoney, 2017)

Publications/Activities
    • Getting the Deal Through - The Banking Regulation Review (1st-6th Edition): "Korea" chapter (Co-author, Law Business Research, 2008-2015)
    • IFLR February 2012 - Basel III guide 2012: "Korea" chapter (IFLR, 2012)
    • Guide to lending and taking security in Asia (2nd Edition): “Korea” chapter (Co-author, Herbert Smith, 2010.10.)

Education

    Cornell Law School, New York (LL.M., 1993)

    Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea (1984)

    College of Law, Seoul National University (LL.B., 1982)

Qualifications

    Admitted to bar, Korea, 1984; New York, 1997

Languages

Korean, English and Japanese

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Sang Hwan LEE
Attorney


T. +82-2-3703-1074      
F. +82-2-737-9091/9092      
  




Sang Hwan Lee is a senior attorney at Kim & Chang’s Finance & Capital Markets Department.

Recognized as one of the premier finance lawyers in Korea, Mr. Lee practices in a wide range of areas related to finance, with a focus on banking, securities laws and regulations, and mergers and acquisitions of financial institutions. He also has extensive experience advising clients in transactions and disputes involving financial derivatives, structured finance and corporate finance matters. As a member of the Japan Practice at the firm, Mr. Lee also advises a broad range of Japanese financial institutions.

Mr. Lee's representative matters in recent years include advising on major M&As and restructurings of domestic banks and post-transaction integration, disputes related to financial derivatives products, and financial institutions’ information leakage cases. He also has represented financial institutions investigated by the Financial Supervisory Service, the Fair Trade Commission and the Prosecutors’ Office.

Mr. Lee has acted as an outside advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Economy as a member of the ministry's Financial Industry Deliberation Committee. He was also a member of the ministry's Task Force for Improvement of Credit Information System.

He also worked as a foreign visiting attorney at Matsuo & Kosugi in Tokyo in 1990 and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York in 1993.

Mr. Lee has regularly authored various publications, including the “Banking Regulation Review (1st-5th Edition): Korea chapter” (Law Business Research, 2010-2014) and “Getting the Deal Through - Banking Regulation (1st-6th Edition): Korea chapter” (Law Business Research, 2008-2015). He also co-authored the “IFLR February 2012 - Basel III Guide 2012: Korea chapter” (IFLR, 2012) and the “Guide to Lending and Taking Security in Asia (2nd-3rd Edition): Korea chapter” (Herbert Smith, 2010 & 2014).

Mr. Lee received an LL.M. from Cornell Law School in 1993 and an LL.B. from Seoul National University College of Law in 1982. Mr. Lee graduated from the Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea in 1984 and is admitted to the New York bar and the Korea bar.






    •   Advisor, Financial Industry Deliberation Committee, Ministry of Finance and Economy (2006-2008)
    •   Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York (1993)
    •   Matsuo & Kosugi, Tokyo (1990)
    •   Kim & Chang (1988-Present)
    •   Judge Advocate, Republic of Korea Air Force (1985-1988)
       





KIKO litigations
 
  •   
    Led and actively engaged in the defense of the major commercial banks in the KIKO lawsuits, filed by companies in Korea against the banks, in which the plaintiffs raised a wide variety of arguments ranging from fundamental challenges to the structural fairness of the product and the appropriateness of KIKO as a currency risk hedging product to case-specific tort arguments. 
 
M&A/Restructuring
 
  •   
    Actively involved in key M&As of major banks and post-transaction integration processes and business transfers/restructurings of major banks and foreign bank branches in Korea 
 
Tax audits
 
  •   
    Assisted foreign financial institutions to obtain a decision of the tax authorities in which only minimum tax assessments on minor errors were imposed and the banks’ transfer pricing policies and cross border transactions were concluded to be generally in compliance with Korean transfer pricing regulations 
 
Financial regulatory services/Audits of banks and capital companies/Financial business license applications
 
  •   Analyzed the direction of any new financial regulatory policies that may be implemented and how it could impact the new regulatory environment. 
  •   Assisted numerous financial institutions to acquire financial investment business licenses and foreign bank branch licenses and obtain approval for closure of bank branches.  
 
Crisis management relating to information leakage incidents of financial institutions
 
  •   Advised on the crisis that immediately followed the information leakage incidents which could have caused criminal, civil and administrative liabilities and could have brought harm to the company’s credibility and reputation.  
  •   Advised on the ensuing regulatory and litigation repercussions





Awards

  •   Stand-out Lawyer, Independently Rated Lawyers (Thomson Reuters, 2022-2024) 
  •   Leading Lawyer, Asialaw Profiles (Euromoney, 2017)

Publications/Activities

  •   Getting the Deal Through - The Banking Regulation Review (1st-6th Edition): "Korea" chapter (Co-author, Law Business Research, 2008-2015)
  •   IFLR February 2012 - Basel III guide 2012: "Korea" chapter (IFLR, 2012)
  •   Guide to lending and taking security in Asia (2nd Edition): “Korea” chapter (Co-author, Herbert Smith, 2010.10.)





Education

    Cornell Law School, New York (LL.M., 1993)

    Judicial Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Korea (1984)

    College of Law, Seoul National University (LL.B., 1982)


Qualifications

    Admitted to bar, Korea, 1984; New York, 1997


Languages
  •    Korean, English and Japanese





Banking ,  Derivatives ,  Non-Bank Financial Companies ,  Structured Finance ,  Acquisition Finance ,  Fintech & IT Compliance