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Lee Kyung-min

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North Korea

Seoul urged to tighten vigilance against North Korean hackers

'NK cyber warfare has potential to cause greater damage than nuclear weapons'By Lee Kyung-min South Korea should raise its guard against cyberattacks from North Korea, as it has been increasingly vulnerable to Pyongyang's tech-driven cyberwarfare, experts said Tuesday. They added that the international community should take North Korea's fast-advancing, cyber manipulation tactics more seriously, as cyberattacks are becoming an easier, more cost-effective alternative to nuclear and missile threats.Contrary to common misunderstanding that the North is an isolated, poor and undeveloped country with no modernization or technological capabilities, Balbina Hwang, a visiting professor at Georgetown University, said the country's activities in online crime was alarming. “The notion dangerously underestimates North Korea's growing sophistication and participation in so-called hybrid warfare utilizing asymmetric capabilities, especially in the cyber-realm. It has the potential to cause greater global damage or chaos than its nuclear weapons program,” the former U.S. State Departmen

Aug 27, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul urged to tighten vigilance against North Korean hackers
Banking & Finance

KSD chief vows successful launch of e-securities system

Korea Securities Depository (KSD) CEO Lee Byung-rhae speaks at a press meeting on Yeouido, Seoul, Aug. 27. Courtesy of KSDBy Lee Kyung-min Korea Securities Depository (KSD) CEO Lee Byung-rhae said Tuesday that he will ensure an effective and safe implementation of an electronic securities (e-securities) system before his three-year term ends in December 2019.“We established a taskforce in August 2016 and came up with a roadmap for the full implementation of the system in September 2019," Lee said at a press meeting on Yeouido, Seoul, Aug. 27. "We will make sure the system will run fully without failures, a very attainable goal following trial runs over the past few months,” he added. Under the system scheduled to begin Sept. 16, securities certificates of shares and bonds will no longer be issued in physical form, thereby recording buyers' subsequent rights on an electronic register. This will allow investors to acquire, transfer and exercise the rights electronically. As of Aug. 23, 99.4 percent of the stocks listed on the local bourse have been recorded on an electronic

Aug 27, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
KSD chief vows successful launch of e-securities system
Banking & Finance

Kyobo reports singular performance amid downturn

Life insurers' net profit dives 32% in H1 By Lee Kyung-min Kyobo Life Insurance posted 481.9 billion won ($394 million) in net profit in the first six months of 2019, up 15.8 percent from a year earlier, outshining its big-name competitors including Samsung and Hanwha, data showed Monday. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Kyobo, among the top three life insurers, was the only one that posted a year-on-year increase in net profit. Samsung Life Insurance and Hanwha Life Insurance saw their year-on-year net profits drop 47.7 percent and 61.8 percent, respectively. Kyobo's outstanding performance was attributed to its differentiated asset management strategy. In late 2017, it turned its “held-to-maturity securities” worth 29.7 trillion won into “available-for-sales securities” in the belief that interest rates would decrease.This is in stark contrast to the fact that its rivals, including Samsung and Hanwha, preferred held-to-maturity securities as they bet on interest rate increases. For example, in 2017, Hanwha switched over 30 trillion won

Aug 26, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Kyobo reports singular performance amid downturn
Banking & Finance

'If you succeed in Korea, you can make it anywhere'

AXA Korea CEO Gilles Fromageot / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukAXA seeks to merge healthcare, lifestyle, and insurance servicesBy Lee Kyung-min Korea is a tough market for foreign insurers. In a market that is nearly saturated, consumers with high standards are sophisticated, exacting and demanding. The service needs to be perfect. This is why attaining success in Korea is a sure sign that a similar outcome can be achieved in other countries, according to AXA Korea CEO Gilles Fromageot. “It is true that satisfying Korean consumers is not easy. A product and strategy proven to be successful in Korea will likely succeed in other countries. Getting recognized in the Korean market is not easy, but at the same time, it could be a guarantee of success elsewhere,” he said in a recent interview with The Korea Times at the insurer's head office in Seoul. The Fraud Detection System (FDS) is among many valid cases in point, according to the 45-year-old French executive. Distinguished by its speech analytics and text mining techniques, the current system underwent a continued upg

Aug 26, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
'If you succeed in Korea, you can make it anywhere'
Banking & Finance

Automated currency exchange services

KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin, fourth from left, and officials from the bank and Airport Railroad cut a tape at an event celebrating the opening of automated currency withdrawal booths set up and operated by the bank at Gongdeok Station, Aug 23. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank

Aug 25, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Economy

NongHyup Bank CEO boosts overseas biz expansion

NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon shakes hands with Stuart Laurence Ayres, New South Wales Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism, at the minister's office Aug. 22 (local time). Courtesy of NongHyup Bank By Lee Kyung-min NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon visited China and Australia to experience the business environment there before pushing for further expansion in the two countries, the bank said Sunday.“Lee returned home following a five-day trip to the two countries where he boosted ties with high-ranking financial figures. He also made sure that there will not be any unforeseen challenges in pushing forward with our plans to set up branches there,” a bank official said.During his two-day trip to Beijing, Lee met with the financial authorities and reaffirmed his commitment and their support for opening a branch there within the year.Beginning in the latter half of 2021, the envisioned branch will serve as a key base for the bank to expand its business in the fast-r

Aug 25, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
NongHyup Bank CEO boosts overseas biz expansion
Banking & Finance

Bank shares dip over 10% following BOK rate cut

By Lee Kyung-min Shares of KB, Shinhan, Woori, Hana and other banks have been heading south since July 17 when the central bank lowered its key interest rate to 1.5 percent from 1.75 percent, which will slash their net interest margins, data showed Sunday.The stocks are unlikely to pick up any time soon as the Bank of Korea is widely expected to cut the rate one more time this year amid growing downside risks at home and abroad.According to the Korea Exchange, the nation's leading financial groups saw their share price drop by as much as 16 percent following the central bank's rate cut.Shinhan Financial, largest financial holding company by assets saw its shares drop to 40,350 won Aug. 23, down 10.73 percent from 45,200 won, July 17.The second-largest holding firm KB Financial's shares lost 13.14 percent from 44,900 won to 39,000 won. Woori Financial suffered the greatest loss of 16.3 percent with its share price falling to 11,550 won from 13,800 won. Hana Financial's shares dropped to 32,100 won from 36,250 won, suffering an 11.45 percent loss. Mid-tier financial groups ― DGB, BNK,

Aug 25, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Bank shares dip over 10% following BOK rate cut
Economy

Regulators zero in on Woori, Hana CEOs over DLS fiasco

Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seungBy Lee Kyung-min Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung and KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo will face intense scrutiny over allegations that they deliberately continued to sell high-risk financial products, leading to what has become a full-blown fiasco involving over 822 billion won ($681 million) in “misleading” investments. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Sunday, a team of investigators will look into how the products were developed, structured and sold. Key people involved will be identified for the respective roles and tasks they carried out, and asked whose directives they followed. The products are derivative-linked securities (DLS) and derivative-linked funds (DLF), structured to track the performance of underlying assets such as interest rates and government-issued bond yields. Their returns are determined by the movements of those assets. KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo“The investigation will focus on whether management's influence or pressure was at play to prioritize profit over their duty to inform customers of p

Aug 25, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Regulators zero in on Woori, Hana CEOs over DLS fiasco
Banking & Finance

Excessive sales pressure causes DLS fiasco

gettyimagesbank Banks urged to strengthen risk management By Lee Kyung-min The recent fiasco involving a set of high-risk, high-yield financial products sold by the nation's top commercial banks resulted from a blind push to generate profit, a key directive from the lenders' management to boost non-interest income, industry officials said Friday.The products are derivative-linked securities (DLS) and derivative-linked funds (DLF), structured to track the performance of underlying assets such as interest rates and government-issued bond yields. Their returns are determined by movements of those underlying assets. Of the about 822 billion won ($681 million) investment in the DLS and DLF in question, nearly half was sold by Woori Bank and the other half by KEB Hana Bank, with many investors set to incur losses. Of them, Woori sold DLS worth over 126 billion won linked to the performance of 10-year German treasuries, which are set to incur 95 percent losses.This means a

Aug 25, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Excessive sales pressure causes DLS fiasco
Banking & Finance

KB Card's Cambodian subsidiary sees brisk performance

KB Daehan Specialized Bank's office in Cambodia Courtesy of KB Kookmin CardBy Lee Kyung-min KB Daehan Specialized Bank (KDSB), a Cambodian subsidiary of KB Kookmin Card, posted $114,000 (137 million won) in net profit for the first half of 2019, less than a year after the branch began operations, the firm said Wednesday. This is a resounding success for the subsidiary in Phnom Penh set up as a joint venture with LVMC Holdings to provide auto financing and mortgages.The KDSB saw its operating profit jump to over $2.9 million in the first half of the year, about a three-fold increase from the four-month period after the launch of the branch in September 2018. The figure was $898,000 in the September to December period. The performance was driven by CEO Lee Dong-cheol's localization strategy to serve the specific needs of Cambodians.Lee introduced a marketing strategy that he considers a highly effective way to secure new customers who need auto financing by requiring cars produced by LVMC Holdings be tied to the firm-operated financing program. Cooperation with SsangYong Motor and Ford

Aug 22, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
KB Card's Cambodian subsidiary sees brisk performance
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