Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
A model promotes KEB Hana Bank's new service titled “Cash Management Service Global” at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, June 27. The new service was designed to help companies with overseas operations use a one-stop cash wiring service via the bank's platform. Courtesy of KEB Hana Bank
European Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman Dimitris Psillakis, right, listens to a keynote speech during a forum organized by The Korea Times at the Plaza Hotel Seoul, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Lee Kyung-min, Jhoo Dong-chanOver 200 guests expressed their appreciation for a digital finance forum organized by The Korea Times, Wednesday, saying it asked the right ― time-relevant ― question in a straightforward manner. Under the topic “Sleeping with the enemy: Digital Disruption,” Korea's oldest English daily held the finance forum on digital transformation to discuss the challenges, business environment outlook and ways forward presented by this new paradigmShortly before the forum began at 7:30 a.m. at the Plaza Seoul Grand Ballroom, dozens of special guests including Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Yoon Suk-heun, Joydeep Sengupta who leads Asia-Pacific Banking Practice at McKinsey & Company as well as bank CEOs and leaders of foreign companies attended a brief tea meeting. Korea Times President and Publisher Lee Byeong-eon speaks
Korea Customs Service Commissioner Kim Yung-moonBy Lee Kyung-min Korea Customs Service (KCS) Commissioner Kim Yung-moon will discuss effective measures to crack down on illegal trade with his international counterparts at the World Customs Organization (WCO) Council, the KCS said Tuesday. The KCS said Kim will attend the meeting from June 24 to 29 in Brussels, Belgium. The WCO, comprised of 183 countries representing over 99 percent of international trade, holds the annual five-day meeting to discuss wide-ranging customs-related issues.This year's agenda include ways to strengthen overall customs clearance procedures as part of an effective crackdown on smuggling attempts. The international body will also discuss ways to better seek accountability against what essentially is the “dumping” of garbage traded under the guise of legitimate imports or exports of recyclables. The joint effort is to prevent a recurrence of a shameful incident involving a Korean export firm that took back from the Philippines what turned out to be a combined 6,300 tons of garbage, not plastic as
Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol speaks during a press meeting at the central bank's headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of BOKBy Lee Kyung-min Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol has become more downbeat about the future course of the Korean economy, citing growing uncertainty caused by the U.S.-China trade feud and the prolonged slump of the semiconductor industry.“The global trade environment increasingly points to a further, prolonged deterioration due to the escalation of the U.S.-China trade dispute, unlike the market expectation that they would shortly find a breakthrough,” Lee told reporters Tuesday.Such an unfavorable development poses a greater risk to Asia's fourth-largest economy already strained by low growth and low inflation, compounded by a delayed recovery of export growth including chip sales, he noted.“Uncertainty is growing over the prospect of the Korean economy, as an increasingly dominant view is that the recovery of semiconductor exports ― the growth driver of the country ― will be delayed further than previously expected,”
Kyobo Life COO Yun Your-hyun, second from left, and Jiahua Xu, one of three winners of 2019 Shin Research Excellence Awards, hold a copy of the award at the International Insurance Society Global Insurance Forum at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, June 20. Courtesy of Kyobo Life InsuranceBy Lee Kyung-min A team of researchers in Switzerland has won the 2019 Shin Research Excellence Award for illustrating the potential impact of the insurance industry on countering climate change, Kyobo Life Insurance said Monday.The award, established in honor of group founder Shin Yong-ho in 1997 and organized by the Geneva Association and the International Insurance Society (IIS), said the team effectively outlined the impact of “redirecting major capital ?ows associated with its investment and underwriting businesses towards carbon-neutral activities.”The team, comprised of Alexander Braun and Sebastian Utz both of the University of St. Gallen, and Jiahua Xu of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, won the award for their paper “Are Insurance Balance Sheets Car
KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, center, smiles with KB Securities officials behind a cardboard cutout made to look like a YouTube video at the subsidiary's headquarters, May 10. Courtesy of KB Financial GroupBy Lee Kyung-min KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo will continue boosting communication with lower-ranking employees, a process he considers vital to help integrate fresh perspectives for improving corporate agility, the group said Monday. Over 600 workers with the group's key subsidiaries have attended the group-organized town hall meetings in April and June, completing the first rounds of the annual event launched in 2018. Similar events will be held in the latter half of 2019.In April, over 100 workers with KB Kookmin Bank, the group's largest and most lucrative subsidiary, attended the meeting, where Yoon shared his vision and business priorities, followed by an impromptu Q&A session.At the May meeting attended by young workers from the group's securities subsidiary, Yoon stressed the importance of hotline centers amid growing demand for non-face-to-f
By Lee Kyung-minThe Seoul financial market is expected to continue a moderate upward trend for a while on the back of a recent dovish turn from the U.S. Federal Reserve, market analysts said Friday. They also expect the Korean won to gain ground against the U.S. dollar. The won has been weakening against the greenback over the past few months due to economic slowdown and the Bank of Korea's key rate staying below the Fed's benchmark interest rate.“The stock market is enjoying the U.S. Fed chairman's dovish remarks, a long-awaited signal to boost investment sentiment,” KB Securities analyst Kim Young-hwan said. The assessment came after the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept its base rate unchanged at 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent on June 19 while signaling possible cuts down the road citing a weakening economic environment. “Many participants now see the case for somewhat more accommodative policy has strengthened,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said.The financial markets in the U.S. and China rallied following the Fed's rate cut signals.&ldquo
By Lee Kyung-min Commercial banks in Korea will be able to maintain lead in online banking against budding fintechs which are more collaborators than competitors, Moody's Investors Service said Friday. While some short-term, investment-induced profit margin deterioration is expected, the banks will see greater opportunities for new revenue sources due in part to cooperation in promoting a regulatory environment that will help diversify the payment channels of consumers, it added. “Despite fast growth in the sector, we expect limited disruption to Korea's financial system from fintechs, as Korea's regulatory framework is focused on financial stability, consumer protection and the prevention of regulatory arbitrage,” the global credit ratings agency said in its report released Thursday. Competition is inevitable in retail banking, but they will lead to new financial services, it added. “Korea's regulatory framework promotes partnerships with banks over competition. Some competition will still arise in retail banking, straining profit, but will open up new revenue sour
Models promote a new financial service launched jointly by Korea's largest portal Naver and internet-only bank K bank, June 21. The service will enable customers to open bank accounts, check balances and view cash transfer history via Naver Pay, a fintech subsidiary of Naver, without installing the bank's mobile app. Courtesy of K bank
Shinhan Bank Deputy President Lee Myong-goo, left, and Korean Standard Association CEO Lee Sang-jin hold an “innovation award” given by the latter at a ceremony at Lotte Hotel Seoul, June 20. The bank won the award in recognition of its highly sophisticated Robotic Process Automation, an automated machine-learning software program that helps relieve workers of menial yet necessary tasks. Courtesy of Shinhan Bank