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Lee Kyung-min

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr

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Economy

Jim Rogers to be outside director at Ananti

Jim Rogers Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Legendary investor Jim Rogers will be appointed as an outside director of Ananti, according to a leisure company, Friday.The move has raised expectation that the long-stalled inter-Korean cooperation could resume through the American known for his vocal support for the need to warm toward the isolationist North.Ananti owns a large-scale resort with a golf course and an outdoor hot spring at Mt. Geumgang in North Korea. The firm said a board meeting will be convened Dec. 27 to pass the motion to appoint him for a three-year term.Many experts say the inter-Korean economic projects could find momentum given the company holds a right to operate the leisure facility at the scenic resort and with the fast thawing of longstanding military tension.The resort closed only two months after it opened after a North Korean soldier killed a South Korean tourist in 2008 claiming that she “provoked” him by not immediately complying with his order to halt. Rogers, one of the world's three most famous investors together with George Soros and Warre

Dec 17, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Jim Rogers to be outside director at Ananti
Economy

Korean banks see jump in overseas revenue

KEB Hana boasts best overseas performance for 2 consecutive yearsBy Lee Kyung-min Korean lenders have enjoyed steady growth in their revenue and income from abroad on the back of their efforts to strengthen their overseas presence, particularly in Southeast Asia.KEB Hana Bank recorded a net income of 297.5 billion won ($263 million) in its global operations in the first nine months of 2018, the best overseas performance among the four major Korean banks for the second consecutive year.This accounted for 15.7 percent of its 1.89 trillion won revenue in the cited period. “Our overseas network has been steadily expanded,” a KEB Hana official said. “We have opened 14 branches overseas in the first nine months of this year. We will continue with this business strategy, fully capitalizing on our well established overseas channels based on foreign currency exchange operations.”Shinhan Bank's overseas business saw 244.8 billion won in net income in third quarter, a 24.4 percent increase from a year earlier. The significant jump was due in large part to the successful

Dec 16, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Korean banks see jump in overseas revenue
Economy

ABL Life to set up general agency

By Lee Kyung-min ABL Life Insurance will set up a general agency as a subsidiary, in a move to diversify profit sources, the company said Friday. The firm passed a motion to establish the sales subsidiary at a board meeting, Dec. 13. The GA was tentatively named ABL Financial Services.This is in line with growing trend among insurance firms rushing to set up such agencies that are allowed to handle not only their own products but also other firms' products.“Usually, agents from certain firms are banned from selling products other than their own, a reason why an increasing number of high-performing, competent agents are leaving for better sales opportunities,” an ABL official said. “But with the general agency operation, they can sell products they see as most competitive, attractive and profitable from competitors. This should in turn help the firm retain the agents,” she added. The business expansion to include these agencies will create synergy with existing marketing channels established online, or through bankassurance, she added.“We expect the agenc

Dec 14, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
ABL Life to set up general agency
Others

Award for helping SMEs

Shinhan Bank CEO Wi Sung-ho, right, holds an award with Lee Sang-che, senior deputy governor of the Insurance and Financial Consumer Protection department of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) at the FSS in Seoul, Dec. 13. The financial regulator gave the award to the bank for its continued efforts in helping small- and medium-sized companies and the underprivileged. Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Dec 14, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Award for helping SMEs
Economy

KDIC CEO vows to strengthened risk management

Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) CEO Wi Seong-bak speaks at a press meeting at the Korea Press Foundation in Seoul, Dec. 13. Courtesy of KDICBy Lee Kyung-min Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) CEO Wi Seong-bak vowed, Thursday, to strengthen preventative measures against financial firms' credit default in Korea by upgrading its risk assessment and monitoring system.To that end, KDIC will seek to institute risk reduction program (RRP), a comprehensive recovery measure against possible credit risk of major financial firms, defined by active involvement of the financial authorities, he added.“A possible default by a large financial firm deeply intertwined with the country's economy is sure to have far-reaching consequences in the market. We will seek to increase our readiness in the event of such an occurrence,” he said in a press meeting at the Korea Press Foundation in Seoul.Wi also said the state-run organization will introduce a more sophisticated risk assessment method under which it will apply seven grades of differential insurance premium rates depending on

Dec 13, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
KDIC CEO vows to strengthened risk management
Economy

Tax agency inspects KEF over embezzlement, breach of trust

By Lee Kyung-min The tax authorities searched the headquarters of Korea Employers Federation (KEF) in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, Thursday, over allegation that a former senior executive engaged in embezzlement and breach of trust between 2009 and 2017. The Seoul Regional Office of the National Tax Service (NTS) audited the interest group representing 4,300 businesses nationwide over suspected tax evasion. The audit followed an investigation conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor that found the former KEF Vice Chairman Kim Young-bae spent 190 million won ($168,700) in organization funds allocated for “special expenses,” in buying gift certificates in 2014. The ministry found that Kim had failed to keep receipts at the time of the purchase nor did he keep expenditure records including where he spent the certificates thereafter. Kim also received about 100 million won as school expenses for his daughter's overseas studies for eight semesters in what the tax agency considers breach of trust, given the limit is set for 40 million won during that period.The NTS said Kim

Dec 13, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Tax agency inspects KEF over embezzlement, breach of trust
Economy

Brokerages, insurers rush to axe jobs

By Lee Kyung-min A growing number of financial firms in Korea are seeking to reduce their workforce due to deteriorating bottom lines compounded by the worsening business environment and recently tightened government regulations. KB Securities and KB Insurance, subsidiaries of KB Financial Group, said discussions are underway between the management and union to solicit letters of voluntary resignation.The securities arm of KB employs 3,100 workers and said that resignations will be accepted from those aged 43 and over by Dec. 12. It's the first reorganization since it acquired Hyundai Securities in 2017.Similar steps are being taken with the 3,300 workers at KB Insurance, which merged with LIG Insurance in 2015, amid continued streamlining efforts to reduce the number of branches nationwide. The 3,300 workers are among those in wage negotiation with the management during which they were forwarded an option to submit their letters of resignation.A total of 118 workers at Mirae Asset Life Insurance under Mirae Asset Financial Group were let go in October. The cut of about 10 percent

Dec 12, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Brokerages, insurers rush to axe jobs
Others

Mobile settlement ties

KEB Hana Bank CEO Ham Young-joo, left, holds a memorandum of understanding with Western Union CEO Hikmet Ersek at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Dec. 11. The two sides agreed to boost cooperation in mobile settlement service involving foreign currency remittances. Courtesy of KEB Hana Bank

Dec 12, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Mobile settlement ties
Economy

Regulator inspects Celltrion for book rigging

Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin By Lee Kyung-min Celltrion Healthcare, a marketing company that holds an exclusive sales right on products made by its bio company affiliate Celltrion, is under investigation over suspected accounting fraud, sparking concerns that bio heavyweights listed on the local bourse will be subject to greater investigative scrutiny. The investigation comes shortly after Samsung BioLogics, a pharmaceutical arm of the Samsung Group, had its stock trading resumed Tuesday, a month after the Financial Services Commission (FSC) concluded that it engaged in accounting fraud in 2015. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is looking into Celltrion Healthcare over suspicion that it committed accounting fraud in the amount of 21.8 billion won ($193 million) in a deliberate attempt to understate operating loss in the second quarter of 2018, a much needed “performance-booster” that saved the firm from seeing its business go in the red. According to finan

Dec 12, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Regulator inspects Celltrion for book rigging
Economy

Korea to speed up innovation-led growth

President Moon Jae-in presides over strategy meeting for innovation growth at Cheong Wa Dae Nov. 28, 2017. Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwonMoon administration vows to place priority on AI, hydrogen economyBy Lee Kyung-min The Moon Jae-in administration is accelerating its drive toward “innovation-driven growth” in a bid to provide an impetus for the Korean economy and brace for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To that end, the government is seeking to create what it dubs a “platform economy,” a comprehensive ecosystem and infrastructure for future industries, in a gradual move to become a global information technology (IT) powerhouse in the digital era.The initiative is part of comprehensive efforts to strengthen the government's role in providing large-scale infrastructure crucial for private entities to continue with long-term business plans, a much-needed growth engine for Asia's fourth largest economy that is increasingly being challenged by a mixture of domestic and global uncertainties. Under the new initiative, the government will seek to help foster

Dec 12, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Korea to speed up innovation-led growth
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