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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

KB's 'March 1' song makes huge success

Still cut of "A Prayer"By Lee Kyung-min KB Kookmin Bank is enjoying the brisk success of a song it produced to commemorate an independence fight movement led by a group of female inmates at Seodaemun Prison. The bank sought a joint project with noted artists to commemorate the movement organized by Yu Gwan-sun, a symbolic figure of the 1919 March 1 Independence Movement against Japan's colonial rule of Korea.The melody for the song with the English title “A Prayer” was written by noted composer Jung Jae-il, and sung by female vocalist Park Jung-hyun, also known as Lena Park. The lyrics were also narrated by former figure skater Kim Yu-na, the bank's spokeswoman. Since the online release of the music video featuring the three, it has drawn over 3 million views and garnered over 53,000 likes as of Wednesday.KB has set up a foundation to which people can donate 3,100 won ($3) by clicking on the Youtube post or sharing it online. The campaign has drawn over 100 million won. The amount will be used to build a square in Taehwagwan, Seoul, where the March 1 Independence declarat

Mar 22, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
KB's 'March 1' song makes huge success
Economy

Ji vows to make KEB Hana digital leader

KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo speaks at a press conference for his inauguration at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Thursday. / YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo said he will seek to prioritize digital transformation and globalization in a move to become a leading, competent bank in the rapidly changing market. “We will seek to change our identity from a commercial bank to an information-based entity, a fundamentally different mindset from our competitors that mostly consider the transformation a tool to help their business objectives,” Ji said at his inauguration press conference at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Thursday.His two-year term will end in March 2021. An aggressive overseas business expansion into Southeast Asia will be among his top priorities. “The domestic market has become nearly saturated, with the competition among industry players only seeking to poach customers from one another. We will seek business overseas so that we can truly strengthen our capabilities, which in turn will help that of our competitors,” he said

Mar 21, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Ji vows to make KEB Hana digital leader
Economy

Tax agency puts YG Entertainment under scrutiny

Yang Hyun-sukBy Lee Kyung-min The nation's tax agency has launched an audit of YG Entertainment to check allegations of tax evasion.This is the latest development in the sex scandal centering on Burning Sun nightclub involving Seungri, a former member of boy band Big Bang, which has been fast spilling over to the police as well as other high-ranking public figures. The National Tax Service Seoul Regional Office said Wednesday it is investigating YG Entertainment head office in Hapjeong, western Seoul, over allegations the company head Yang Hyun-suk has engaged in tax evasion. About 100 officials with the Seoul branch were dispatched to the office and secured documents involving the firm's accounting and financials. The probe followed an allegation that Yang has been the de facto owner of Love Signal, a club in Seoul owned by Seungri on paper.Yang is suspected of having dodged a substantial amount of taxes by registering what is an apparent entertainment facility as a restaurant.The tax agency also filed a complaint with police against a man surnamed Kang, the de facto owner of club A

Mar 21, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Tax agency puts YG Entertainment under scrutiny
  • Jung Joon-young arrested over sex video scandal
  • Why Chinese 'drug dealer' at Burning Sun refuses to return to homeland
Others

Best performers

NongHyup Bank CEO Lee Dae-hoon, fourth from right in the front row, smiles with the winners of best performing employees of NongHyup Card 2018 at the bank's training center on Jeju Island, March 18. Courtesy of NongHyup Bank

Mar 20, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Economy

BOK board member warns of 'financial imbalance'

Lee Il-houngBy Lee Kyung-min Korea should refrain from making monetary policy any more “accommodative,” to prevent further financial risks involving the already overheated property market, a rate-setting board member with the central bank said Wednesday. “While debt growth in the property market is showing signs of slowing, the country needs to remain highly vigilant against a financial imbalance that could be exacerbated by rising debt in the market,” said Lee Il-houng, a member of the Monetary Policy Board of the Bank of Korea (BOK). Examples of a financial imbalance include excessive liquidity-induced property market overheating. His remarks are largely seen as a defense against a de facto “rate cut,” after the International Monetary Fund essentially recommended that the central bank lower the key interest rate. He pointed out not only households but businesses including the self-employed in rent businesses all seek to increase their leverage in property investment, a reason financial institutions are becoming more vulberable to higher risk of e

Mar 20, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
BOK board member warns of 'financial imbalance'
Economy

SC Bank CEO challenged to boost profitability

New investment can be a double-edged sword for ParkBy Lee Kyung-min Standard Chartered Bank Korea CEO Park Jong-bokStandard Chartered (SC) Bank Korea CEO Park Jong-bok is facing the tall task of bolstering profitability in 2019.After securing 100 billion won ($88 million) in extra investment from its parent holding company Standard Chartered Group in January, Park may have felt greater pressure not only to keep his post but also to keep the group committed to the Korean market.The group, which acquired the Korean unit in 2005, had not made any investment between 2008 and 2018. The rare investment is a strong indication that the group has faith in Park but the capital injection can be a double-edged sword for the Korean CEO who helped the firm post over 200 billion won in net income for three consecutive years since 2016.The bank posted a net income of 200.9 billion won in the first nine months in 2018. The lender is estimated to have made net income similar to or greater than that in 2017 when the figure was 273.6 billion won. It was a major turnaround from 2015 when the bank posted

Mar 20, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
SC Bank CEO challenged to boost profitability
Economy

'Bank Sign' still irrelevant to banks

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min “Bank Sign,” a certificate that cost tens of billions of won, will remain irrelevant unless major modifications are made to revise its drawbacks, according to industry sources and an expert. In a joint project with Samsung SDS, the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) representing some 60 Korean banks and foreign banks with Korean branches nationwide spent the banks' membership fees to develop the certificate. Developed with blockchain technology, Bank Sign was intended to replace or reduce the dominance of the much-dreaded “authenticated certificate” better known as “public certificate.” Mobile and online financial services are practically unavailable without one or the other certificate.The authenticated certificate requires multiple software downloads to computers, a time-consuming, frustration-inducing process long criticized for hindering the effective delivery of financial services.Since its launch in August 2018, 15 banks including major commercial and state-run ones have made Bank Sign available for financial tran

Mar 19, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
'Bank Sign' still irrelevant to banks
Economy

BOK faces renewed rate cut dilemma

Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeolWill BOK chief join procession of dovish central banks abroad?By Lee Kyung-min Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Lee Ju-yeol is under growing pressure to lower the key interest rate after central banks in developed countries have been showing signs of going back to credit easing policies amid a global slowdown.The renewed dilemma came only four months after the last hike in November 2018. The current rate of 1.75 percent came a year after the previous increase mostly due to fears of massive capital outflow and a sluggish domestic economy. Most recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended a “rate cut” as part of its policy suggestions alongside drawing up a supplementary budget of about 9 trillion won ($7.9 billion), about 0.5 percent of the country's GDP. On March 12, Tarhan Feyzioglu, head of the IMF Mission to Korea, essentially suggested the central bank should lower the key rate, saying a further accommodative move would “not raise concerns over foreign capital outflows as the country implements a flexible curren

Mar 18, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
BOK faces renewed rate cut dilemma
Others

Partnership for VIP customers

Citibank Korea Retail Bank Division Head Valentin Valderrabano, right, and The Class Hyosung CEO Bae Ki-young, show a memorandum of understanding at a signing event at the Seoul branch of Citibank, Seoul, March 15. Under the agreement, the authorized dealer of Mercedes-Benz will offer a three-month premium limousine service to the bank's Wealth Management (WM) customers in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Citibank

Mar 18, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Partnership for VIP customers
Economy

Merchants, consumers shun using Zero Pay

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min An increasing number of merchants are expressing frustration toward “Zero Pay,” a mobile QR code-based payment that enables a direct transaction between consumers and merchants without using credit cards. The new method was initially welcomed by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the self-employed as an ideal alternative to using credit cards that charge what they claim are “unreasonably high” transaction fees.However, the time-consuming, complicated transaction approval process is increasingly irking both the merchants and customers.“It's the height of inconvenience,” said a man in his 50s running a small eatery in Jongno, Seoul. “It takes up to two minutes for each transaction from when a customer runs the QR code app from their mobile phone to enter the price amount until I make sure the cash transfer is complete, a process that requires five seconds tops using a credit card,” he added. Using the system is in no way a help in boosting profit when everybody is in a hurry especially during lu

Mar 18, 2019By Lee Kyung-min
Merchants, consumers shun using Zero Pay
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