In 1998, as the Asian financial crisis raged through South Korea and the rest of the region, Sung Taek Hwang decided to leave his comfortable position at Hyundai Financial to establish his own independent securities firm.
It was not an auspicious time. The Korean won plummeted, dragging down many companies that had borrowed dollars and no longer had the ability to repay.
Many of them, most notably Daewoo, did not survive, while others were sold to foreigners. In retrospect, though, the timing proved more fortuitous than it initially appeared. Today, Truston Asset Management, the firm Mr Hwang founded, has $6.5bn under management, his investors include the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, China and Norway, and his largest client is the widely respected National Pension System of Korea.