Business - The Korea Times

Financial firms rushing to hire senior digital experts

A notice about branch consolidation is posted in the window of a KB Kookmin Bank branch in Seoul, Jan. 25, 2021. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungKorea's major financial holding firms are in a rush to scout senior digital experts possessing decades of field experience at major IT firms.With digital transformation becoming the new normal in financial circles in the wake of the pandemic, banking groups here are seeking to stay ahead of the toughening digital competition by hiring better digital experts.KB Financial Group recently recommended Gangneung-Wonju National University professor Choi Jae-hong as its new non-executive director, in recognition of his broad career experience at major IT companies ― such as NHN and Kakao.The nation's largest financial holding firm by market capitalization expects him to give a clearer direction to its ongoing digital transformation. Choi is best known for his advisory role, having worked as a non-executive director at Kakao for six years and helping the company develop into the nation's top mobile platform operator.Last May, Hana Financial Group also appointe

Mar 1, 2022By Lee Min-hyung

Financial firms rushing to hire senior digital experts

Korea Investment joins Tropicana acquisition deal

Korea Investment & Securities headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul / Courtesy of Korea Investment & SecuritiesBy Anna J. Park Korea Investment & Securities has joined an acquisition deal of U.S.-headquartered juice brand Tropicana, through a partnership with PAI Partners, a leading private equity firm based in Europe. As PepsiCo agreed to sell Tropicana, the top orange juice brand in North America, to PAI Partners last August, the Paris-headquartered private equity firm has been jointly raising $4.4 billion in capital along with Korea Investment, Credit Suisse and Bank of America.Korea Investment is the only Korea-headquartered financial company that is participating in the acquisition deal as a lead arranger. The securities firm is expected to underwrite senior and mezzanine loans for the deal. It explained that its investment banking subsidiaries in Hong Kong and New York have been cooperating closely with PAI Partners to win the chance in the deal. “Korea Investment & Securities aims to expand the firm's global networks and synergy effects as it bolsters joint oper

Feb 28, 2022

Korea Investment joins Tropicana acquisition deal

Hana, Woori shift to emergency mode amid Russia-Ukraine conflict

The headquarters of Hana Financial Group in central Seoul / Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooThe major banking groups are on alert due to the escalating military conflict between Ukraine and Russia, scrambling to secure their respective business operations in Russia if they have them, and setting up emergency measures to weather the sanctions on Moscow and their impact on the global economy.The banking arms of both Hana and Woori have been running corporations in Moscow since 2014 and 2008, with Woori expanding its business by opening a branch office in St. Petersburg plus a liaison office in Vladivostok in the early 2010s.For Hana Bank, its loan exposure, a measure of the maximum possible loss to a lender in the event that a borrower defaults on a loan, was estimated to be 296 billion won ($245.7 million) in the third quarter of 2021.The banking group launched a response team, which has been monitoring the Russian banks that have been designated on the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN) after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Thursday. Launched on

Feb 27, 2022By Yi Whan-woo

Hana, Woori shift to emergency mode amid Russia-Ukraine conflict

Retail investors fall prey to plunging Naver, Kakao stocks

From left are the Naver headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and Kakao's head offices on Jeju Island. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungRetail investors are frustrated with the steep fall of the stocks of Naver and Kakao, two of Korea's leading online platform companies.Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the two companies made headlines for achieving outstanding stock growth on expanded global liquidity. This situation was the case for other tech-driven growth stocks in equity markets overseas.However, starting this year, shares of the two companies have been on a sharp decline on growing fears that the global monetary authorities will put an end to their near-zero rate policy to curb rising inflation.The stock price of Naver, the nation's dominant internet portal operator, topped 400,000 won per share in early December, but its valuation has since plunged to around 300,000 won as of Thursday. Kakao shares also hit a one-year low of 82,200 won per share in late January, only about half a year after reaching a new high of 170,000 won in June 2021.Minority shar

Feb 25, 2022By Lee Min-hyung

Retail investors fall prey to plunging Naver, Kakao stocks

Hana, KAIST sign MOU for cooperation on carbon neutrality, ESG drive

Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai, fifth from left, and KAIST President Lee Kwang-hyung, center, pose with other officials from the two sides during a signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the group's headquarters in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. The MOU is aimed at jointly achieving the goal of carbon neutrality in accordance with environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) values. Courtesy of Hana Financial GroupBy Yi Whan-wooHana Financial Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) to tackle climate change and reach the U.N. goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 jointly, the banking group announced Thursday.The MOU is line with the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles that have been embraced by the corporate and financial sectors worldwide after they were first formally introduced in 2004 in a U.N. Environment Program known as “The Global Compact Leaders Summit” report.The areas of cooperation under the MOU center on challenges associat

Feb 24, 2022By Yi Whan-woo

Hana, KAIST sign MOU for cooperation on carbon neutrality, ESG drive

Hana Card chief's term extended on solid corporate management

By Lee Min-hyungHana Card CEO Kwon Gil-jooHana Financial Group has decided to extend the term of Hana Card CEO Kwon Gil-joo for another year based on his solid corporate management.Kwon took office as the leader of Hana's card affiliate last April. He is recognized for driving its outstanding earnings growth. In 2021, the company generated a net profit of 250.5 billion won, up 62.2 percent from the previous year.The financial holding firm also spoke highly of Kwon's stable corporate management by enhancing communication with employees and improving corporate culture.When he was promoted to lead the company last year, his first scheduled event was to visit a customer service center where he encouraged employees and pledged to expand support for them.He has since stressed the importance of going back to basics by urging employees to have a customer-oriented mindset.Kwon is a finance expert with more than 35 years of experience in the industry after joining Korea Exchange Bank in 1985. After the bank merged with Hana Bank in 2015, he has held key posts at Hana Financial Group, Hana Bank

Feb 24, 2022By Lee Min-hyung

Hana Card chief's term extended on solid corporate management

Installment savings failing to attract clients despite interest rate hike

A sign shows personal credit loan services offered at a branch office of a major bank in Seoul, in this photo taken in July 2021. Korea Times file By Yi Whan-wooMajor commercial banks are seeing a decline in the amount of money deposited in installment savings accounts, despite offering higher retail deposit rates following key interest rate hikes by the central bank. As their basic term deposits are seeing a continuous inflow of cash, industry watchers explain that it shows that the middle- and lower-class households can't afford to save in the long term because their funds are being funneled into daily living expenses amid inflation.The increased retail deposit rates are applicable to both installment savings and term deposits. But the former requires the account holder to build up savings by making fixed monthly deposits instead of an initial one-time deposit.According to market observers, the deposits in installment savings accounts of the five major banks combi

Feb 22, 2022By Yi Whan-woo

Installment savings failing to attract clients despite interest rate hike

Major financial groups emphasize digital transformation strategies for 2022

NH NongHyup Financial Group's digital finance chief Lee Sang-rae holds this year's first online supreme council meeting on digital transformation at the group's headquarters in central Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of NH NongHyup Financial Group By Anna J. ParkThe country's major financial groups are accelerating efforts for digital transformation, which has become key for survival in the industry. NH NongHyup Financial Group reaffirmed its priority goal of pursuing digital transformation at its first supreme council meeting this week. The meeting led by the group's digital finance chief Lee Sang-rae decided that the group's banking affiliate will focus on improving its online-only process for customers, while its securities affiliate will put its utmost effort into digitalization of customer services as well as the introduction of online services. The bank aims to improve online banking procedures, laying solid foundations for the next 10 years of digital development.N

Feb 19, 2022By Anna J. Park

Major financial groups emphasize digital transformation strategies for 2022

SillaJen granted six-month grace period to avoid delisting

SillaJen shareholders call for the trading of the biopharmaceutical company's stocks to be resumed at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul, Jan. 18. YonhapBy Yoon Ja-youngSillaJen got its chance to avoid being delisted from the stock market, as the bourse operator decided to grant it a six-month grace period to improve its situation.The Korea Exchange (KRX) announced Friday that its Kosdaq market committee decided to give six more months to the biopharmaceutical company, which has been facing the risk of being delisted following alleged embezzlement and other malpractices by the firm's former and incumbent management.SillaJen will have to submit a report within 15 business days from Aug. 18 on how it has executed its plan to improve the situation, which will need to be confirmed by experts. Once it submits the report, the KRX will hold a Kosdaq market committee meeting within 20 business days to decide again whether the company should be delisted. Trading of the SillaJen's stocks will remain frozen. SillaJen has been suspended from stock trading since May 2020, and the corporate eval

Feb 18, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

SillaJen granted six-month grace period to avoid delisting

Appeals court raises Optimus CEO's jail term to 40 years over massive investment scam

Optimus Asset Management's office in southern Seoul in October 2020 Korea Times fileA Seoul appellate court on Friday hiked up the prison sentence to 40 years for the CEO of private equity investment firm Optimus Asset Management, accused of fraud in one of the country's largest investment scams.Kim Jae-hyun, the head of Optimus, was sentenced to 25 years by a lower court last July.He allegedly raised more than 1.3 trillion won ($1.08 billion) from thousands of private and institutional investors between April 2018 and June 2020, promising the money will be invested in low-risk assets involving public institutions. However, the money was invested in risky assets or used to refund investors, and he eventually failed to redeem much of the invested money to clients.The Seoul High Court also ordered a forfeiture of 75.2 billion won, along with a fine of 500 million won in the ruling, the same as the lower court's verdict. (Yonhap)

Feb 18, 2022

Banking & Finance