Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
BC Card to be K bank's majority shareholder despite bill passage
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
BC Card will seek to become K bank's majority shareholder, despite the passage of a bill that has allowed telecommunications giant KT to become the largest shareholder of the internet lender.
The National Assembly passed a bill Wednesday containing revisions to regulations on internet banks, which eases the requirements for a company seeking to become the majority shareholder of an internet bank.
KT, which set up K bank, had sought last year to increase its stake in the lender to 34 percent from 10 percent, as a means to help the internet lender boost its capital base. K bank has virtually suspended operations since April 2019 due to a lack of capital.
However, it had been barred by previous regulations that stated it should not have a record of violating rules on fair trade. KT was under investigation last year for suspected collusion with other telecommunications firms in a circuit line business project.
KT is now able to become K bank's majority shareholder, but its affiliate BC Card is set to take this position.
This was a plan KT devised to save K bank after revisions to internet bank regulations failed to pass a National Assembly plenary session in March.
"We will proceed with the initial plan," a BC Card official said Thursday.
"We are still in the process of getting documents ready for the authorities to review our eligibility to become the largest shareholder of K bank, but we will do this as soon as possible," he said.
The official said KT and K bank, meanwhile, will seek to create synergy in their business lines.
KT and BC Card's boards have agreed for the latter to take over KT's 10 percent of K bank's shares.
BC Card is also seeking to buy newly issued shares of K bank, to increase its holding of the lender's shares to 34 percent and inject fresh capital into the bank.
The company is planning to first take over KT's shares of K bank, and then request the authorities to review its eligibility to become K bank's largest shareholder.
The authorities are likely to give the green light to the request, as it approved a similar one involving Korea Investment Holdings and IT firm Kakao.
The holdings company initially sought to sell 29 percent of its Kakao Bank shares to its brokerage unit Korea Investment & Securities, as a means to hand over its Kakao Bank shares to Kakao. This would have made the brokerage Kakao Bank's largest shareholder, but the move was impossible due to a penalty imposed on the unit in 2017 for violating fair trade regulations.
The holdings company accordingly chose to sell its shares in Kakao Bank to Korea Investment Value Asset Management, before the shares were then handed over to Kakao. The financial authorities approved the process.