Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
KB Financial to disclose plans to enhance corporate value in Q4
KB Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of KB Financial Group
By Anna J. Park
KB Financial Group has become the first publicly traded company to officially announce a plan to disclose its corporate value enhancement plans during the fourth quarter of this year.
According to the financial group's public disclosure on Monday, it decided on Friday to issue its own "Corporate Value-up Program," which is in line with the government-led initiative to increase Korean listed companies' corporate values. Under the government initiative, the financial authorities recommend listed companies to voluntarily issue their own Corporate Value-up reports as part of their public disclosures.
"KB Financial has been discussing sustainable Corporate Value-up plan with the board of directors. Based on these discussions, the company aims to announce its Value-up Program in the fourth quarter of 2024," the public disclosure reads.
The public disclosure to be announced in the fourth quarter is expected to include the current status of the financial holding company, medium- and long-term goals, the formulation of specific plans and the assessment of their implementation.
In order to prepare the disclosure report, the financial group said that it held in-depth discussions with external market experts to delve into the reasons for the persistent undervaluation of Korean bank stocks, while gathering investor opinions.
The financial group also held another round of discussions with its outside directors, CEOs of its subsidiary companies and executives from the holding company to discuss corporate value enhancement strategies, including medium- to long-term capital management, asset growth plans and shareholder return policies.
"As KB Financial Group will be leading the country's Corporate Value-up Program with the announcement of the disclosure in the fourth quarter, we hope to spearhead listed companies' voluntary moves to address and resolve the 'Korea discount,'" an official from KB Financial Group said.
Indeed, KB Financial Group is one of the representative companies listed on the Korean stock market that is considered to be a beneficiary of the government-led corporate value enhancement initiative. Armed with its diversified portfolio, solid profit strength and robust capital base, the stock price of KB Financial Group has risen by more than 43 percent this year alone.
Earlier this year, the financial group became the first in the financial industry to introduce a system for equal quarterly cash dividends and a predictable annual total cash dividend amount. The group has committed itself to the repurchase and cancellation of its own shares, aiming to strengthen its shareholder return policy.
Industry analysts expect KB Financial Group will implement the repurchase and cancellation of its own shares in July. The amount is projected to be around 320 billion won ($234 million) as announced in February or possibly even higher.