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Kang Seung-woo

Korea Times Business Reporter

Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.

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Companies

Tong Yang flexing insurance muscle

By Kang Seung-woo Tong Yang Life Insurance is cruising to its largest revenue for a second straight time in the fiscal year 2010 on the back of efficient management and diversified income channels. As of the end of December 2010, Tong Yang’s sales registered 2.91 trillion won, up 18.81 percent from the previous year, and its net profit increased 67.82 percent year-on-year to 125.7 billion won, which put the life insurer on pace to reach about 3.6 trillion won in sales and around 160 billion won in net income along with 15.7 percent in return on equity (ROE), the measure of profitability. Thanks to its strong run, Tong Yang is projected to stretch its profit to 12 straight years, eclipsing the largest earnings ever every year except for 2008, when its profit weakened due to the global financial crisis. The industry says that the management has led the insurance company efficiently and its various products have also contributed to the firm steadily raking in money. Tong Yang became the first local life insurer to be listed on the stock market in October 2009. The IPO

Mar 29, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Savings bank rescues may hurt finance sector

By Kang Seung-woo The top four banking groups are busy announcing their intention to acquire troubled savings banks. But observers question whether buying them will help their bottom lines. “Rather than an effort to broaden customer base and diversify business portfolios, they seem to be cooperating with the government’s plan to deal with the savings bank crisis,” said a Seoul-based economist on condition of anonymity. “The financial authorities are trying to solve the problem, but other than the four major banking groups of KB Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, and Hana Financial Group no one is in a position to take over debt-ridden savings lenders. Currently, all four have declared bids for or are considering buying seven savings banks. Woori Financial Group, the nation’s second-largest holding firm, are moving to take over one or two more savings banks after buying Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank, now Woori FG Savings Bank. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) suspended Samhwa’s operations for six months due to inadequate capital on

Mar 29, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Samsung Lifes globalization efforts stay on track

By Kang Seung-woo Behind its record net income in the 2010 fiscal year, Samsung Life Insurance has its eyes on global and retirement markets to continue its strong run. Samsung, the nation’s biggest life insurer, saw its earnings top 1 trillion won for the first time after raking in 1.27 trillion won as of the third quarter of last year. However, Samsung Life is not just sitting back and plans to aggressively make forays into overseas markets for a new growth engine, with China its first target. With the world’s No. 2 economy in its sights, Samsung Life invited Park Keun-hee to its presidency in November last year to make efforts to strengthen its presence in China. The 57-year-old is familiar with the country after serving as Samsung China president. In line with Park’s appointment, the insurance firm went through restructuring which expanded the oversea business team into the overseas business headquarters in a step to brace for soon-to-be larger overseas business. “Samsung Life is a runaway leader in the domestic life insurance market, but we cannot sit back, ju

Mar 28, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

New top regulator to keep financial companies on tighter leash

By Kang Seung-woo With a new boss at the helm, the nation’s financial watchdog is expected to strengthen its monitoring activities. “I will try my best to take care of lingering uncertainties in the financial market,” Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se said in his inauguration speech. “In order to do so, I will ensure the inspections of financial institutions will be stricter.” His decision came after the FSS suffered much criticism for loose monitoring of financial players, causing turmoil such as the savings bank crisis. The role of the FSS was initially divided into supervision and monitoring, but when former Governor Kim Jong-chang took over in 2008 the two were combined due to rising complaints that it is doubling regulation on financial institutions. Supervision involves authorizing financial products and making regulations, while inspection is visiting financial institutions in order to enforce those regulations. Critics argue that the integration ultimately weakened the ability to inspect the FSS. “As the FSS overly supported the L

Mar 28, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

POSCO is top steel plate producer

By Kang Seung-woo POSCO has become the world’s top producer of steel plate after building a new facility in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province Monday. According to the steel giant, it completed the steel plate plant with an annual capacity of 2 million tons at Gwangyang steel mill after breaking ground on July 2008 to reinforce its steel plate production facilities. Steel plate is a sheet over 6 millimeters thick, used in manufacturing of large container ships or liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels. The addition of the steel plate plant has catapulted POSCO to the biggest manufacturer of the metal with a total production of 7 million tons past Japanese and Chinese rivals. POSCO currently produces 5 million tons of steel plate at its Pohang Steelworks. As of last year, JFE Steel Corp. was the world’s No. 1 steel plate maker with 5.5 million tons, followed by Nippon Steel Corp. and Bosan Steel of China at 5.2 million tons and 4.8 million tons respectively. “With the completion of the plant at Gwangyang Steelworks, POSCO has become the undisputed global No. 1 company in

Mar 28, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Seoul halts food imports from 4 Japan prefectures

By Kang Seung-woo The government suspended food imports, Friday, from four Japanese prefectures hit by radioactive materials leaking from the crippled nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The temporary ban applies to food products from the radiation-contaminated Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures in northeast Japan, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Among the banned items are spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and milk, which have been currently placed on the Japanese government’s list of food restricted for consumption or shipment due to radioactive contamination. “We are closely examining every food import from Japan, but so far none have failed to pass tests,” Yook Dong-han, a deputy minister at the premier’s office, told reporters after a government policy coordination meeting. The suspension came two days after the government said it would temporarily freeze imports of Japanese food if there was a possibility of serious radioactive contamination in the first meeting of a committee tasked to come forward with safety policies. Yook said

Mar 25, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Lotte draws ire for bungled Japan trip promotion

By Kang Seung-woo Lotte Department Store was confirmed on Friday to have cancelled a controversial promotional event. But discontent still lingers over the manner the outfit opted to announce its decision. According to a mass email sent to customers, the department store was to pick two couples among those who make a purchase between March 25 and 31 and award a free trip to Japan to see the cherry blossoms. The promotional event caused a backlash because Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho and his family reportedly left Japan for Korea this month with just Shin Dong-joo, the eldest son and vice president of Lotte Japan, remaining there. Critics claimed that one of Korea’s largest conglomerates is set to send its customers to the disaster-stricken country, which even its owner’s family members do not want to stay. A deadly earthquake accompanied by a tsunami hit Japan hard on March 11 and the crippled nuclear plants in Fukushima have been releasing large amounts of radioactive materials to cause people to flee the area. In the face of rising criticism, Lotte eventual

Mar 25, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Woori-Daewoo marriage ruled out

By Kang Seung-woo The vice chairman of the nation’s financial regulator hinted Thursday that the financial authorities are against the consolidation between Woori Investment & Securities and Daewoo Securities. “I wonder if it will work efficiently when financial firms are combined just to beef up their size,” Kwon Hyouk-se, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said in a meeting with reporters. The 54-year-old life-time bureaucrat is also a nominee for the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the executive body of the FSC. “For example, Woori Investment & Securities is short of funds to strike a deal overseas, but raising capital via a merger and acquisition (M&A) is not the only way.” His remarks drew attention as the government-backed Daewoo Securities, which is owned by the Korea Development Bank, has been trying to acquire Woori, the brokerage unit of Woori Financial Group, in its attempt to create a giant investment bank (IB). Woori Financial is a state-run entity up for sale. “If size does really matter in the financial industr

Mar 24, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Top regulator opposes mega-bank scheme

By Kang Seung-woo Amid the re-emerging idea of a mega-bank, the nation’s top financial regulator said Wednesday that size does not matter in terms of increasing a bank’s global competitiveness. “Efficiency is more important than size. Just beefing up the size of a bank is not a big deal. What is more significant is how to operate in the financial market,” Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Seok-dong told reporters before attending a policy coordination meeting at the Gwacheon Government Complex. ``Who coined the term mega-bank? I have never referred to the word. The key factor to shake up the financial industry is for it to be efficient in operation,” he said. Kim’s remarks came with speculation that further efforts are being made to create a super-size bank by artificially merging two or more retail banks under the supervision of the government. Since former Strategy and Finance Minister Kang Man-soo, an avid advocate of a giant lender, took the helm of the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) Financial Group last week, there have been whispers that th

Mar 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

S-Oil joins sharing drive

By Kang Seung-woo S-Oil signed an agreement Wednesday with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea National Council on Social Welfare to join a “sharing” campaign as part of its corporate social responsibility activities. This is the first time for an oil refiner to join the venture, a public-interest program that the government launched in April 2010 jointly with a civic group to disseminate a culture of donation. Currently, about 20 firms are participating in the charitable activity. S-Oil plans to select 250 participating service stations and donate a total of 500 million won ($446,500) to child care centers, nursing homes, facilities for the disabled, and other social welfare facilities on the recommendation of the service stations that have information on the communities in which they are located. In addition, each “happiness-sharing service station” will visit social welfare institutions and provide voluntary services together with S-Oil executives and employees. “We decided to join the ‘Happiness-Sharing’ campaign to help people in need with the stro

Mar 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo
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