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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

Euh Yoon-dae will head KB Financial

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Euh Yoon-dae, chairman of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, was selected as the final candidate for the chairman of KB Financial Group, Tuesday, after the recommendation committee conducted a 90-minute interview with him and two other candidates ― Lee Hwa-eon, former CEO of Daegu Bank, and Lee Chul-hwi, CEO of KAMCO. The committee said that his outstanding leadership and driving force were already proved while working at the presidential council. The selection is subject to approval by a shareholders' meeting next month. If he earns the final nod, he will be inaugurated as the head of the nation's largest financial holding company for a three-year term. After the selection, Euh expressed his will to take a lead in the reshaping of the local banking industry. "South Korea needs to nurture competitive financial firms so as to become one of the world's top 50 players," he said. Market participants see his selection as a positive sign for the firm. "He is expected to handle the nine-month void well under his strong leaders

Jun 15, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

KoFC to provide 100 trillion won fund

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter The Korea Finance Corporation (KoFC) will provide a 100 trillion fund by 2015 to nurture the nation's strategic businesses. "The KoFC has set its vision to supply 100 trillion won to companies focusing on future-oriented industries, such as green industry and new growth engine industry," KoFC President Ryu Jae-han said during a press conference in Seoul, Monday. The KoFC spun off from the Korea Development Bank (KDB) last October, as the first step by the state-run lender toward privatization, and assumes the public-financing functions of the KDB. The fund will also invest in start-up companies, small- and medium-sized enterprises and social overhead capital (SOC). "The KoFC will serve as an incubator to develop the new businesses," he said. In order to supply the promised money, the state-run agency plans to increase the size of the supply with an annual growth of 30 percent. "Starting from 6 trillion won this year, we will raise it by 30 trillion won annually by 2015," he said. "To secure the funds, we will capitalize on the

Jun 14, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Insurance gives peace of mind to smartphone customers

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Jin Eui-chul recently met with a headache over his recently-purchased iPhone. Not that its smooth touch screen or a myriad of apps bother him but that he suffers from a constant fear of losing his pricey status symbol. The 30-year-old man is trying to find an insurance policy from a growing number of options for his 600,000-won gadget. Jin is not alone. An increasing number of expensive smartphone users are considering buying policies. In the case of loss, robbery or damage, the insurance provides a new cell phone or a certain amount of money to a subscriber. "Recently, I have seen many people lose their smartphones, so I have decided to buy insurance. People around me are also considering this due to the costly price of the gadget," said Jin. "But there are several plans, so I am trying to decide which one suits me." Interestingly enough, these insurance products are carrier-initiated. SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom all offer policies. SK, the No. 1 carrier, started "Phone Safe 2.0" on June 3 after improving its existi

Jun 14, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Longest-serving CEO eyes overseas market

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Park Jong-won, CEO of Korean Re, the longest-serving CEO in South Korean financial corporate history, is now set to go abroad to transform the company into an international player. The reinsurance company announced Friday that the 65- year-old has been elected to the post for a record fifth straight time at a general stockholders’ meeting. Park, who was named the boss of the company in 1998, will be in charge for three more years. Park’s reappointment was mainly due to his outstanding achievements since he took the helm of the firm. The former government finance officer was parachuted in for the moribund Korean Re had been suffering an operating loss reaching 400 billion won ($321.2 million) at that time. However, he restructured the company, reduced 30 percent of all employees, and secured liquidity by selling bonds, which helped Korean Re withstand the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. Since then, his full-strength efforts in expanding its operations and the drastic internal innovation have put the company on a steady tra

Jun 13, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

More Koreans value family over work

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter It is becoming more difficult to look at how average South Koreans spend their daily lives. Unlike when they had a money- first lifestyle, the arrival of industrialization and digitization has brought about a great deal of changes. In its report on a Korean’s 24- hour schedule Sunday, the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) summarized “Koreans’ lifestyle” with seven keywords . family, health, solitude, share of housework, decrease of media exposure, online amusement and routine life. Family According to the report, the amount of time spent at home during the weekdays in 1999 was 14 hours and 8 minutes, which was nearly the same 10 years later at 14 hours and 11 minutes in 2009. However, the gap widened during the weekends, as an average of 15 hours and 54 minutes were spent at home last year, 67 minutes longer than a decade ago. It is widely believed that a stronger family-oriented attitude has arisen due to a five-day workweek, which has enabled people to spend more time going out. Health The economic developm

Jun 13, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

IBK’s aggressive retailing roils rivals

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK)'s recent full-strength foray into retail banking operations has drawn complaints from commercial banks. The banks complain that the state-run lender has failed to take care of its primary goal of supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), increasing its penetration into the retail sector, taking advantage of ample liquidity thereby enabling it to offer lower interest rates. "Government-owned IBK was set up in accordance with the Banking Act of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises, but it has become more and more commercialized, going against its main purpose," said an official of a commercial bank who requested anonymity. "We don't approve of IBK's action to aggressively pursue higher penetration into such areas as mortgage loans and private banking rather than support for SMEs.'' The IBK was established in 1961 with an aim to finance small- and medium- sized enterprises. The government directly owns 65.13 percent of the bank's share at present. However, since CEO Yun Yong-ro took over

Jun 11, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Large-banner World Cup ads not legal

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Big firms take advantage of the "soft" laws and light punishment, by going full-scale in outdoor banner advertisements to associate their brand names with the World Cup. The Jung-gu District Office recently issued orders to dismantle big outdoor advertisements at five places ― the headquarters buildings of SK Telecom, SK Networks, Hana Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and the old building of Samsung Group. The advertisements are large enough to wrap nearly the entire fa?ade of the buildings. SK Telecom, which has earned huge brand recognition after supporting street cheering campaigns during the past two World Cups, has a gigantic photo of national player Park Ji-sung covering one side of its building, while Hyundai Motors, one of FIFA's official sponsors, has gone with Olympic gold medalist Kim Yu-na in its oversized ad poster in Jongno, downtown Seoul. Kyobo Life Insurance hung a football ground-sized promotion on its main building in Gwanghwamun. The Jongno-gu District Office has told those companies to remove the

Jun 11, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Kyungnam roiled by W100-billion scandal

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter A "financial accident" to the tune of least 100 billion won ($80.20 million) has occurred at Kyongnam Bank, after an employee of its structured finance division issued bank guarantees on loans without going through the proper procedure, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Thursday. The bank official identified by his surname Jang, who works in the lender's office in Seoul, illegally guaranteed funds for builders' project financing (PF) when they received loans from non-banking financial institutions from October 2008 to April 2009. PF is used to finance long-term projects, usually real estate development such as the building of apartments or a shopping center, in which the borrowing is serviced from the profit generated by the project. Hence, financial institutions give loans, if they determine that the project will make money. Kyongnam, one of the three banks owned by Woori Financial Group, found last month that the employee had used the bank's seal arbitrarily for guarantees without reporting it to his superior officers, after

Jun 10, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Woori Investment eyeing Asian market

By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter Woori Investment & Securities is set to become a player in Asia's regional financial markets, expanding its business overseas. "Within the year, we plan to integrate the research center in Beijing and a liaison office in Shanghai into a consultative body, and it will work in line with the investment bank (IB) team in Korea to invigorate business in China," Woori Investment CEO Hwang Sung-ho said in a press conference, marking the first anniversary of his inauguration in Seoul, Tuesday. The 56-year-old said that the soon-to-be-built local subsidiary would part of the IB department and it would prepare an initial public offering (IPO) - the act of selling shares in a company for the first time - after recruiting local employees. Although its IB center in Singapore swung into the black just two years after its establishment, the first to be set up by a Korean securities company there, its business in Asia's second largest economy has yet to boom. Aside from China, Hwang said Woori, one of the top three players in the local securities indu

Jun 8, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
Companies

Banks riding on World Cup bandwagon

Some financial institutions looking to freeload By Kang Seung-woo Staff reporter With the South Africa World Cup about to start, banks and other financial institutions are busy putting it to their best marketing use. Some banks have gained exclusive rights from FIFA, the world governing body of football, while others are hanging onto the coattails for a free ride. For those freeloaders, their methods often "go around" the rules, so there is nothing illegal about them. Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) has a stranglehold on World Cup marketing in terms of authorization. The local lender became the event's official bank on April 22 after signing a sponsorship deal with VISA International, one of the official sponsors of FIFA, which is the first time for a Korean bank to back a World Cup on foreign soil. The contract gave KEB the exclusive right to use the official logo, emblem, slogan and event titles of FIFA in its marketing. KEB plans to support the Korean national squad, a seven-time qualifier, and pursue integrated marketing to arouse a sense of unity among the peop

Jun 8, 2010By Kang Seung-woo
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