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Woori Bank steps up ESG efforts with climate governance organization

Woori Bank CEO Lee Won-duk, right, poses with Lee Woo-kyun, standing representative of Korea Climate & Environment Network, at the lender's headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Woori BankBy Lee Min-hyungWoori Bank has clinched a partnership with a local climate governance organization, as part of its efforts to fulfill an advanced level of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) activities, the lender said Wednesday.Under the tie-up with the Korea Climate & Environment Network, the bank will carry out a series of joint projects on ESG. They include a social contribution and consulting campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the bank.The network is a Korean environmental governance organization dedicated to helping build a more eco-friendly society. A group of 57 government authorities, state-run organizations and private institutions will team up with the network. Woori Bank is the only commercial lender that has joined the network as a founding member.Woori Bank also pledged to step up its efforts to achieve its group-wide vision of beco

May 18, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Woori Bank steps up ESG efforts with climate governance organization

Shinhan, Google team up for smart city

Seen above is a notice poster for Shinhan's startup acceleration program. Courtesy of Shinhan Financial GroupBy Lee Min-hyungShinhan Financial Group will team up with Google in a startup accelerating program to support those engaged in smart city businesses, the financial holding company said Tuesday. Companies with innovative technologies in the four areas of smart living, city infrastructure, the sustainable city and the biotech industry or digital health will apply for the program, according to Shinhan.A total of 30 companies founded in less than seven years will be selected at “Shinhan Square Bridge” in Seoul and Incheon, the group's platform for nurturing startups, for the project that will run during the latter half of 2022.Google for Startups Campus Seoul will also collaborate with Shinhan by providing a variety of programs, including helping startup founders access Google's global network and to receive diverse education courses.The selected startups will be able to get business consulting services and promote their businesses by taking part in a set of investor r

May 17, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Shinhan, Google team up for smart city

Banking group chiefs rush to enhance investor relations abroad

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung speaks about strategies for carbon neutrality during the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in the United Kingdom in November 2021. He was the sole chairman of Korea's four major banking groups to join the conference. Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooThe leaders of the nation's four major banking groups are rushing to enhance investor relations abroad, as travel restrictions are being eased after years of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Two chairmen ― Cho Yong-byoung of Shinhan Financial Group and Son Tae-seung of Woori Financial Group ― are currently visiting Europe and Singapore, respectively, seeking to promote their respective firm's record earnings and measures to return more benefits to shareholders with the aim of drawing more capital from international investors.Two other chairmen ― Yoon Jong-gyu of KB Kookmin Financial Group and Ham Young-joo of Hana Financial Group ― are yet to schedule overseas meetings, according to public relations staff of each company.“But even so, they are believed to be keeping track of th

May 17, 2022By Yi Whan-woo

5 Woori Bank branches open exclusively for foreign customers every Sunday

By Yi Whan-wooWoori Bank is now open to foreign national customers exclusively every Sunday at five branches nationwide, according to the lender, Tuesday. This move comes despite the continuing shortening of operating hours in the banking industry for offline operations, with the turn towards digitalization.Woori Bank's headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of Woori BankThe nation's fourth-largest lender said foreign nationals who find it tough to use offline banking services on weekdays can visit any of the five branches open on Sunday in Gwanghui-dong, Jung District, in central Seoul, Ansan, Uijeongbu, Baran-ri in Gyeonggi Province and Gimhae in South Gyeongsang Province.The offline bank branches will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and visitors are required to make a reservation in advance using Woori Bank's mobile banking app.They will need to select the branch they want to visit and the day of the visit as well as the specific banking purpose.To increase foreign customers' convenience, Woori Bank is planning to make reservations for Sunday banking services available on i

May 17, 2022By Yi Whan-woo
5 Woori Bank branches open exclusively for foreign customers every Sunday

K bank continues solid growth in Q1

K bank's headquarters in central Seoul / Courtesy of K bankBy Anna J. ParkK bank, Korea's first internet-only bank, posted a quarterly net profit of 24.5 billion won ($19 million) for the first quarter, exceeding the entire annual net profit of 22.5 billion won it logged last year. According to the bank on Monday, it has witnessed enhancement in almost every area of its business, ranging from the number of customers to management efficiency, resulting in the record-high earnings for the first quarter.The bank attracted some 330,000 more customers in the first three months of this year, which left its total number of customers standing at 7.5 million as of the end of the quarter. The bank's loan size rose to 7.8 trillion won, which is more than a 10 percent increase, from 7.09 trillion won posted at the end of last year. Its savings and deposit size also rose to 11.54 trillion won in the first quarter, up by 220 billion won from the end of last year. The internet-only bank attributed the increases in both loan and savings amounts to the strengthened competitiveness of its banking prod

May 16, 2022By Anna J. Park
K bank continues solid growth in Q1

Citibank Korea reports earnings fall amid phased shutdown of retail banking

Citibank's logo is seen at its office in Seoul, Feb. 15. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungCitibank Korea reported a double-digit earnings decline in the first quarter of this year amid weak profit growth in wealth management, as the lender is in the phased shutdown of retail banking. According to the company, its net profit between January and March came in at 40.1 billion won ($31.23 million), down by 16.8 percent from the previous year. Even if the Korean subsidiary of the U.S. banking group enhanced a net interest margin during global monetary tightening, the company failed to enhance revenue particularly in wealth management as well as bond and foreign exchange derivatives.“Citi's corporate finance business has achieved a solid earnings performance despite the volatile market circumstances,” Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon said. “We are going to do the utmost to attain a goal of sustainable growth by enhancing risk management capabilities to deal with volatile financial markets in a timely manner.”After Citi made a group-wide decision to close down Korea's consumer

May 15, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Citibank Korea reports earnings fall amid phased shutdown of retail banking

Local brokerage firm stocks hit 52-week lows amid pessimistic outlook

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. Park Due to the deteriorating market outlook as well as worsened year-on-year Q1 earnings, local brokerage firms' stock prices hit new 52-week lows on Thursday. As both the domestic and global stock markets continue to plunge with the U.S. Federal Reserve's squeeze on liquidity, the forecast for the brokerage sector is unclear, casting shadows on future upward movements of the stocks. In addition, brokerage companies' quarterly earnings have also fallen from the same period last year, with a significant decline in the average number of daily transactions. Following a disappointing first-quarter earnings announcement on Tuesday, Kiwoom Securities' stock price rewrote its 52-week low for the second consecutive session, as it fell to 83,200 won ($64.50) at Thursday's closing. The brokerage company's first-quarter operating profit posted 213.2 billion won, a 38.6 percent fall from the same period last year. In terms of quarterly net profit, it fell by 47.11 percent year-on-year, standing at 141.1 billion won. The earnings were also lower than the market consensu

May 13, 2022By Anna J. Park
Local brokerage firm stocks hit 52-week lows amid pessimistic outlook

Shinhan introduces data-driven anti-money laundering system

A promotional image for Shinhan Bank's anti-money laundering monitoring system. Courtesy of Shinhan BankBy Lee Min-hyungShinhan Bank has introduced a big data-powered anti-money laundering system, in a preemptive move to detect any signs of unusual transactions, the lender said, Thursday. The Shinhan-Trade Based Money Laundering (S-TBML) allows the bank automatically to monitor any signs of money laundering or suspicious transactions.The system is operated by the lender's big data in trade and foreign exchange, which is used to prevent any risks on such illicit transaction acts in advance, according to the lender.Shinhan Bank started developing the system in 2018, by teaming up with Shinhan DS, the financial IT subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group. In September of last year, the lender also succeeded in making the system more sophisticated, with artificial intelligence (AI) and optical character recognition (OCR).The AI and big data have in recent years been the talk of the town in the financial industry here, with more banks and financial firms introducing the technologies with a l

May 12, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Shinhan introduces data-driven anti-money laundering system

Deloitte Anjin accused of negligence in audit reports

Deloitte Anjin's headquarters located on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of Kim Do-hyungBy Anna J. Park Doubts and concerns are rising as to whether Deloitte Anjin, one of big four accounting firms in Korea, is failing at internal controls, as it not only turned out to have received the largest number of corrections from the financial regulator in audit reports during the past few years among the top four accounting firms, but also has been engaged in some of the most scandalous financial fraud cases.According to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the country's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) detected a total of nine violations from November 2017 to May last year in Deloitte Anjin's audit reports on listed companies. The SFC inspects local accounting firms' audit reports on listed companies on a regular basis to determine whether the firms are faithfully implementing auditing roles.During the same period, the three other major firms, Samil PwC, KPMG Samjong and EY Korea were corrected four, five and four times, respectively. During the last three business

May 12, 2022By Anna J. Park
Deloitte Anjin accused of negligence in audit reports
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