Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
KB Kookmin Bank SME/SOHO Customer Group Senior Managing Director Shin Deok-soon, right, and JC Hyun System CEO Cha Joong-seok hold a signed memorandum of understanding at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Aug. 6. Under the agreement, KB will help finance SMEs that use the IT marketing firm's supply chain. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank
Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Kim Do-jinBy Lee Kyung-min When Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Kim Do-jin took office in December 2016, he vowed to visit all the branches across the country. Now about a month away from the end of his term, he has delivered on his pledge.He has visited a combined 691 domestic and overseas branches and met 12,478 workers. Of 57 overseas branches, the last one was in Hong Kong, which Kim visited Nov. 14, (local time), in a brief stop on his way to China. This means he took a business trip to rural regions at least twice a week, except when he had to attend events overseas. On some occasions, he visited 11 branches in a single day.Branches in regions reeling from unfortunate circumstances were the first Kim went to. For example, he visited Daejeon, after the region was hit by Typhoon Soulik in August 2018.Driven by personal conviction that the leader should care for those in need, he pushed with a pre-set schedule to visit nine branches in the city. Many workers especially in remote areas feel deeply moved that he took an hours-long trip just to see the
Public Procurement Service (PPS) administrator Jung Moo-kyung speaks at his office in Daejeon, Nov. 14. Courtesy of PPS'Effective public procurement drives sustainable growth'By Lee Kyung-min Korea is seeking to become a leader in the global procurement market by ramping up efforts to create an ecosystem whereby public programs foster sustainable, innovative growth, the head of the state-run procurement service agency said Friday.Public Procurement Service (PPS) administrator Jung Moo-kyung considers it an extremely viable goal amid growing consultation and joint project requests filed with the agency from around the world. Jung believes the agency's stringent management in purchasing innovative products with a competitive edge will boost business expansion for local producers, a cycle that could become a sustainable business model applicable on the global stage. “Innovative products undergo rigorous testing for marketability, a process strengthened by constant feedback from reviewers to remove shortcomings. This in turn leads to improving product quality and boosting competiti
By Lee Kyung-min Leading commercial banks are forging partnerships with fintechs overseas to foster localization and digitization, industry officials said Wednesday. The collective move from Korean lenders seeks to land a greater number of new customers via easy-to-use mobile platforms developed by fintech startups, key business partners in countries with higher growth potential compared to the saturated domestic market. KEB Hana Bank has drawn 100,000 customers who borrowed a combined 100 million yuan (17 billion won) via a platform operated by Ant Financial, a fintech affiliate of Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant. This is in line with the bank's objective to offer financial services to 1 billion users of Alipay, Alibaba's payment platform, including taking out small, short-term loans. “Landing the new 100,000 customers in China only four months after we teamed up with Ant Financial is quite a pleasant surprise. We think the joint project will also help us to use Alipay user consumption pattern analysis data in assessing credit risks and develop more financial products that b
By Lee Kyung-min The number of financial firms' outlets in ASEAN member states has nearly doubled over the past seven years, amid local financial groups' efforts to diversify their business portfolios in the rapidly growing market, data showed Tuesday. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization of 10 countries in Southeast Asia, a market emerging as a key growth area under the Moon Jae-in administration's New Southern Policy. Data from the Financial Services Commission (FCS) showed the number of financial firms' outlets, including corporate bodies, branches and offices, stood at 150 in June, up 92 percent from 78 in 2011.Of the total, 77 are based in Vietnam (54) and Indonesia (23). They are followed by Myanmar (22), Singapore (20), Cambodia (15), the Philippines (seven), Laos (four), Thailand (three) and Malaysia (two). Of the newly added 72 outlets, 47 are corporate entities, accounting for over two-thirds of the total, an outcome of strategic localization of Korean financial groups seeking to expand marketing channels with local
First Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Yong-beom, left, speaks about measures to curb soaring housing prices at the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) in Seoul, Nov. 18. Kim said he will consider increasing the number of areas in Seoul where the presale price of housing is capped. Courtesy of Ministry of Economy and Finance
By Lee Kyung-min Korea's two internet-only banks have shown drastically contrasting earnings results in the third quarter. Kakao Bank continued to enjoy solid earnings, while K bank suffered from ballooning losses due to a lack of capital curbing its lending business. According to data from Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Kakao Bank reported 15.3 billion won ($13.1 million) in net profit for the first nine months of 2019. The bank swung into the black in the first quarter for the first time recording 6.5 billion won, only 20 months after it was launched.Net profit in the first six months jumped to 9.5 billion won thanks to the second-quarter net profit of 3 billion won. This was further boosted by a third-quarter net profit of 5.7 billion won. In September, Kakao had over 10.69 million customers with a deposit total standing at 19.9 trillion won and lending at 13.6 trillion won.“Kakao Bank plans to raise 50 billion won through rights offering within November, laying the groundwork for it to become a comprehensive financial service provider,” it said. In contrast, K b
gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min The Ministry of Economy and Finance came under heavy criticism for what critics call a “meaningless” evaluation of state-run organizations, Monday. The efficacy of the three-month evaluation, conducted by 10 outside members, has long been called into question, as officials at many public bodies involved in serious corruption ― including hiring fraud or tax evasion ― face no severe consequences other than a forced return of bonuses to the ministry. The issue was brought to the fore by Rep. Yoo Seung-min of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party at an audit of the ministry in October. The lawmaker pointed out that high-ranking officials at Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), for example, were found to have been involved in hiring fraud, only months after receiving the highest grade among the entities reviewed. Similarly, Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), for example, was found to have evaded over 3.3 billion won ($2.8 million) in corporate taxes. In response to the lawmaker's inquiry, the ministry acknowledged that it sometimes revis
By Lee Kyung-min The combined investments by Korea's major business groups dropped 17 percent in the first three quarters of the year due to a plunge in earnings amid the economic downturn, data showed Sunday. According to corporate tracker CEO Score, 272 subsidiaries of 29 business groups invested a combined 54.3 trillion won (46.6 billion) in the January to September period, down 10.8 trillion won, or 16.6 percent, from 65.1 trillion won last year.The setback followed a sharp reduction in corporate investment from the nation's top semiconductor and display manufacturers that long accounted for hefty facility and construction investments over over the past few years. Samsung Electronics slashed investments by 29.1 percent, or 5.3 trillion won, from the year before, the steepest reduction among the top local firms. SK Hynix cut its spending by 3.2 trillion won, or 30.1 percent, while LG Display reduced corporate investment by over 2.5 trillion won, down 52.4 percent. Measured year-on-year, however, Samsung Group's overall investment plummeted 29 percent, followe
By Lee Kyung-min Korea lost more than 40,000 financial service jobs over the past three years, an inevitable outcome of the sector's strengthened online businesses, including non-face-to-face services, government data showed Sunday.Data from the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) showed that the financial services sector employed a total of 831,000 people jobs at the end of 2018, down 41,000 from 872,000 in 2015They include 384,000 full-time workers at financial groups and their subsidiaries and low-paid 447,000 contract workers. About 14,000 jobs were lost from banks, the most lucrative subsidiaries of financial groups, long considered one of the highest quality jobs. As many as 15,000 jobs were slashed from insurance firms and 9,000 from card firms. Most of them were contract workers in charge of recruiting new customers. Only the financial investment sector added 4,000 jobs due to an increase in the number of asset management companies following the government's deregulation to lower entry barriers.There were 243 asset managers at the e