Banking & Finance

KakaoBank lands 4 papers at leading AI conferences

KakaoBank said Tuesday that four of its research papers on financial artificial intelligence (AI) were accepted to international journals this year, highlighting the internet-only lender's efforts to improve the safety and reliability of AI use in finance. According to the company, the papers were accepted to the International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) and the Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC). The research focuses on improving the security, accuracy and safety of generative AI models for financial services. One paper, presented at ICLR in April, introduced a system for detecting prompt injection attacks targeting large language models used in specialized fields such as finance and law. Developed jointly with The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the model was trained on a proprietary dataset of about 59,000 samples and outperformed existing models in detecting malicious prompts. Two more papers were presented at LREC in May. One proposed a method for detecting prompt injec

Woori Financial's bid to take Tongyang Life private continues to stall amid shareholder backlash

Woori Financial Group’s plan to take Tongyang Life Insurance private has hit a snag in the final stages, as a dispute over the proposed share-swap ratio draws heightened regulatory scrutiny and underscores Korea’s growing emphasis on protecting minority shareholders, according to industry watchers Tuesday. The case highlights a broader dilemma facing financial holding companies: how to pursue strategic acquisitions while still demonstrating that such deals are fair to ordinary shareholders. Woori is carrying out a comprehensive share swap to acquire the remaining stake in Tongyang Life, the final step in bringing the insurer under full ownership following last year’s acquisition. Under the proposed terms, the life insurer’s shareholders would receive 0.2521056 Woori Financial shares for each Tongyang Life share they own. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), however, ordered the holding company to revise its securities registration statement, seeking additional disclosure on the rationale for the deal and the methodology used to calculate the exchange ratio. The main point of

Winners of the 22nd Economic Essay Contest

The Korea Times is pleased to announce the winners of its 22nd English Economic Essay Contest for university students. The Grand Prize winners are Alexandra Maria Escobar Garay, a Salvadoran student at Busan University of Foreign Studies, and Ko Kyung-hwan, a Korean student at Hanyang University. Each winner will receive 3 million won in prize money and an award certificate. The runners-up are Sultanova Khadizha, a Kyrgyz student at Woosong University, and Said Jonathan Luviano Lessie, a Mexican student at Ajou University. Each will receive 2 million won and an award certificate. Commendation awards went to Tran Minh Ngoc, a Vietnamese student at Hanoi Financial and Banking University, Narzullaeva Maftuna Shukhrat Kizi, an Uzbek student at Inha University, and Lee Hyo-jeong, a Korean student at the University of California. Each will receive 1 million won and a certificate. The contestants wrote essays addressing one of two subjects. The first topic covered Korean banks and securities firms. The contestants were asked to write an essay based on this writing prompt: Korean banks and securitie

Mirae Asset debuts global investment platform MAPS in Hong Kong

Mirae Asset Securities’ Hong Kong unit launched MAPS, a mobile investment platform designed to let global users trade both traditional and digital assets, the company said Monday. Short for Mirae Asset Portfolio Service, MAPS is the firm’s first unified investment platform presented under its Vision 3.0 growth strategy. It has been built with an aim to offer access to multiple asset classes, products and markets through a single interface. It builds on the company’s existing mobile trading services in Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, which have until now operated as separate country-specific platforms. The company marked the launch with a ceremony in Hong Kong, Friday, attended by Mirae Asset Financial Group founder and Global Strategy Officer Park Hyeon-joo; Seong Jun‑yeop, chief of Mirae Asset Securities’ Hong Kong unit; as well as the unit’s senior executives, including Stanley Chen, head of wealth management, Shasha Huang, head of investment and capital markets, and Alex Sung, head of IT. Hong Kong was chosen for the debut because of its position as Asia’s financial

Hana Financial Group partners with Seobu T&D on Seoul logistics complex project

Hana Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with real estate developer Seobu T&D to provide financing for an urban high-tech logistics complex in Seoul, the group said Sunday. The agreement establishes a partnership covering project finance, corporate finance and co-investment for Seobu T&D’s planned mixed-use development in Seoul’s Yangcheon District. The project will combine a smart logistics center with medical, commercial and cultural facilities as part of an urban high-tech complex. Under the agreement, Hana Bank and Hana Securities will work to arrange project financing, analyze the project’s structure and develop financing solutions, while drawing on their combined corporate networks to provide a broader range of services. “This partnership combines the strengths of the financial and real estate sectors to support the successful development of a large-scale urban logistics complex.” Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said. “We will serve as a trusted financial partner in building integrated infrastructure that brings together logistics, fin

Korea Eximbank, shipbuilders join forces on $150 bil. US investment plan

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the country’s three largest shipbuilders, Thursday, to support a $150 billion investment drive aimed at strengthening Korea-U.S. cooperation in the shipbuilding sector. The signing ceremony, held at the bank’s headquarters in Seoul, brought together the heads of five state-backed lenders — Korea Eximbank, Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation, Korea Development Bank, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and Korea Ocean Business Corporation — as well as the CEOs of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean. The agreement forms part of follow-up measures stemming from last year’s bilateral trade and investment deal, under which Seoul pledged to invest $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding sector as part of a broader $350 billion investment package. The parties will establish a joint working group to identify investment opportunities and coordinate financing and support relevant projects. Korea Eximbank will serve as the group’s coordinator, overseein

PHOTO Hana supports young small business owners

Rising leveraged investments pose threats to financial stability: BOK

Korea's financial system remains stable, but rising housing prices and growing leveraged investments amid a stock rally could fuel financial imbalances, the central bank said Wednesday. "Despite domestic and external uncertainties, Korea's financial system is generally assessed as stable, supported by strengthening growth in the real economy as well as the sound resilience of financial institutions and the country's external solvency," the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in its report on financial stability. "However, amid significantly heightened volatility in domestic financial and foreign exchange markets, potential risks remain latent sources of instability and warrant close attention." The BOK said the potential risks include mounting financial imbalances stemming from a renewed surge in housing prices in Seoul and other areas, increased leveraged investment and concerns over the spread of nonperforming loans in vulnerable sectors. Household loans rose a moderate 3.5 percent on-year to 1,993.1 trillion won (US$1.3 trillion) in the first quarter but its monthly growth pace accelerated in re

Seoul stocks extend gains late Wednesday morning on bargain hunting

Korean stocks extended their gains late Wednesday morning as individual investors went bargain hunting following the previous session's massive sell-off in technology stocks. After opening 1.86 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 272.43 points, or 3.32 percent, to 8,476.27 as of 11:20 a.m. Overnight, Wall Street closed lower as sharp declines in memory chip and semiconductor stocks weighed on investor sentiment amid broader concerns about the artificial intelligence sector. In Seoul, blue chip technology shares traded in positive territory. Semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK hynix gained 7.26 percent and 2.43 percent, respectively. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic components affiliate of Samsung Electronics, went up 2.06 percent. Automobile shares were also among the gainers. Industry leader Hyundai Motor moved up 0.59 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia advanced 2.4 percent. The Korean won was trading at 1,536.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., up 2.4 won from the previous session.

New fire protection association chief vows shift from response to prevention

Kim Ki-hwan, the newly appointed chairman of the Korean Fire Protection Association, pledged to shift the organization's focus from post-accident response to proactive risk management and prevention. Speaking at his inauguration ceremony on Monday, Kim said the association should evolve into a comprehensive disaster risk management institution capable of identifying risks before accidents occur. "Our mission is to identify risks before they materialize, prevent accidents and help build a safer society," Kim said. "Over the past 53 years, the association has helped shape Korea's history of risk management and disaster prevention," he said. "The expertise, experience and data we have accumulated over these decades are valuable assets that only few organizations can match." Kim pointed to growing challenges posed by climate-related disasters, electric vehicles, energy storage systems and data centers, saying rapid technological change is creating new demands for risk management. "Change is not a choice but a reality. However, this is not a crisis, but an opportunity for us to leap forward." T