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Lee Kyung-min

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

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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
Others

Boosting military morale

Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku, fifth from left, poses with senior Air Force officers at the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance headquarters in Busan, Dec. 10. Courtesy of Financial Services Commission

Dec 10, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
Boosting military morale
Economy

'Google tax' emerges as Korea-US trade issue

By Lee Kyung-min The so-called “Google tax” is emerging as one of the trickier trade issues between South Korea and the United States after Washington expressed opposition to the move to tax the global tech giant. The key point is whether taxing internet media companies by having them set up servers here, an attempt considered as data localization regulation, is a violation of the KORUS FTA (free trade agreement)In an answer to a recent email inquiry from The Korea Times, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris made remarks seemingly at odds with the National Assembly's move to revise the law to tax Google on revenue from digital services.U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris / Yonhap“With proper security measures in place, cross-border data flows will unlock possibilities that were previously unimaginable,” Harris said.“Conversely, obstacles to these flows will lock us in and hurt us in the long run. That is why we have urged the Korean government to avoid data localization rules.”Harris made the same remarks at a public debate he participated in wi

Dec 10, 2018By Lee Kyung-min
'Google tax' emerges as Korea-US trade issue
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