Business - The Korea Times

Mirae Asset Securities names new chairman

Mirae Asset Securities Chairman Choi Hyun-man / Courtesy of Mirae Asset SecuritiesBy Lee Min-hyungMirae Asset Securities promoted former Vice Chairman Choi Hyun-man to chairman in a year-end reshuffle of top management, the company said Monday.Choi is a founding member of Mirae Asset Group along with Chairman Park Hyeon-joo, and played a pivotal role in developing the company for more than 25 years.He has led the group's other key affiliates, including securities, asset management and life insurance.Mirae Asset Securities is one of the nation's top brokerage houses, setting a record operating profit of 1 trillion won in 2020 for the first time among securities firms here.The company was established in December 1999 and has achieved outstanding growth for the past two decades, expanding its presence not just in the home market, but overseas capital markets.“Chairman Choi has contributed a lot to developing the company as the nation's leading investment firm,” an official from the company said.The latest promotion reflected on Park's strong willingness to foster a group-wid

Dec 6, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Mirae Asset Securities names new chairman

Gov't financial institution staff concerned over relocations as election season heats up

The Export-Import Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul / Yonhap By Kim Hyun-binThe ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) move to relocate state-owned financial institutions in Seoul to provincial areas is raising concerns among workers in that industry.With the presidential election slated for March of next year, the ruling party seeks to relocate public institutions to regions outside of the capital, claiming that the move will stimulate balanced development in other parts of the country. But those financial institutions are concerned that the efficiency of their operations will be impacted if the relocation plan becomes a reality.According to financial industry sources, the ruling party is pushing ahead with the relocation plan. The ultimate goal is to relocate all 200 public institutions, including a large number of state-run financial institutions located in Seoul, to provincial areas.The relocation of financial institutions has been on the agenda during pract

Dec 6, 2021By Kim Hyun-bin

Gov't financial institution staff concerned over relocations as election season heats up

Shinhan Life and KB Insurance compete in healthcare market

Shinhan Life CEO Sung Dae-kyu, left, and KB Insurance CEO Kim Ki-hwan / Courtesy of each companyBy Anna J. ParkKB Insurance and Shinhan Life are expected to fiercely compete in the healthcare sector as the two strengthen their presence to take the advantage in the growing market. Their moves are in line with the financial authorities' recent decision to support local insurance companies' further advancement into healthcare.Shinhan Life is planning to newly launch a digital healthcare subsidiary within this month. The new firm's name will be Shihan CubeOn. Some insiders view that Choi Seung-hwan, head of Shinhan Life Digital Innovation Group, is likely to be appointed to head up the new subsidiary.Shinhan CubeOn is set to provide healthcare services through an artificial intelligence (AI) based mobile home fitness application. Through the digital platform service, the digital healthcare firm aims to expand its business in the fitness and nutrition markets. Shinhan Life is also strengthening its partnership with other major companies in the healthcare sector. The life insurance company

Dec 6, 2021By Anna J. Park

Shinhan Life and KB Insurance compete in healthcare market

KakaoBank outperforms commercial banks in productivity

KakaoBank's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, is seen in this August file photo. YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukKakaoBank's profit per employee during the first three quarters of this year reached 280 million won ($236,000), while the average for that at the nation's five largest commercial banks during the same period stood at 187 million won, their regulatory filings showed Sunday.Profit per employee has been widely used to measure labor productivity in the banking industry. Some market insiders therefore are interpreting the result as proof that the internet-only bank's employees are more productive than workers at Korea's top five commercial banks ― KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NongHyup.By bank, Hana's profit per employee was 207 million won, followed by Shinhan at 190 million won, KB with 183 million won, Woori at 179 million won and NongHyup, 176 million won.Until the first three quarters of last year, their average profit per employee was 171 million won, higher than that of the internet-only bank's 163 million won. Back then, Woori was the only domestic commercial b

Dec 5, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk

KakaoBank outperforms commercial banks in productivity

AMCHAM and ruling party presidential candidate meet to discuss support for foreign investments

American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) Chairman & CEO James Kim, front row fifth from left, and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, front row sixth from left, pose for a photo with the heads of AMCHAM member companies at the Conrad Hotel Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of AMCHAMBy Lee Kyung-min The American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) hosted a special meeting with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung, Thursday, at the Conrad Hotel Seoul, it said in a statement, Friday.Among the key multinational AMCHAM member companies in attendance were the following: 3M Korea, Applied Materials Korea, ACE American Fire and Marine Insurance Company (Chubb in Korea), Philip Morris Korea, Qualcomm Korea, GE Korea, Pfizer Korea, MSD Korea, GM Korea, Inspire Entertainment Resort, Delta Air Lines and Cytiva. They discussed issues that affect the global business community in Korea.The meeting explored Lee's prospective policies as well as his goals for the economy, such as increasing Korea's competitivenes

Dec 3, 2021By Lee Kyung-min

AMCHAM and ruling party presidential candidate meet to discuss support for foreign investments

KB set to extend terms of non-banking leaders

From left are KB Securities co-CEOs Park Jeong-rim, Kim Sung-hyun and KB Insurance CEO Kim Ki-hwan. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungKB Financial Group is set to extend the terms of its CEOs at key non-banking affiliates during the year-end reshuffle of top management, for their contribution to the group's stable earnings growth despite pandemic uncertainties.The nation's largest financial holding firm by market capitalization recently announced it would carry out a leadership reshuffle at KB Kookmin Bank for the first time in four years. With the group nominating Lee Jae-keun, who is in his mid-50s and considered to be a relatively young leader in the nation's financial industry, there were rumors that the group was pursuing a large-scale generational shift in the upcoming reshuffle slated for mid-December.KB Financial Group operates a total of 13 affiliates and the tenures of nine leaders at eight subsidiaries will be up by the end of 2021.But the heads of the group's cash-cow non-banking arms will retain their positions in recognition of the critical roles they played to help expand the grou

Dec 3, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

KB set to extend terms of non-banking leaders

Woori union denies plans to participate in management

Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung attends a meeting with Financial Supervisory Service Governor Jeong Eun-bo at the headquarters of the Korea Federation of Banks in Seoul, Nov. 3. Joint Press Corps-YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungWoori Financial Group's employee stock ownership association will not seek to take part in management, but focus instead on boosting the firm's stock valuation after becoming its largest shareholder, industry officials said Thursday.The association succeeded recently in acquiring more than a 1 percent stake in Woori from the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation. As a result, the association will be able to play a bigger role within the group as its largest shareholder, with a 9.8 percent stake in Woori after the sale is completed.Woori's privatization has been one of the biggest issues the lender has faced this year and all eyes have been on whether its union will step up pressure on top management to introduce an outside director recommended by the union.The appointment of union-backed outside directors has been one of the key issues in the domest

Dec 3, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Woori union denies plans to participate in management

Skepticism grows over HYBE shares

BTS members perform during their concert held at the SOFI Stadium in Los Angeles on Nov. 28, local time. Courtesy of Big Hit Entertainment By Anna J. ParkShares of HYBE, which owns the entertainment company that manages K-pop sensation BTS, have been dropping for over two weeks now. The stock has continued to slip after rising to an all-time high of 421,500 won ($357) during intra-day trading as well as the highest closing price of 414,000 won on Nov. 17.The stock finished at 330,000 won on Thursday, plunging 6.38 percent from the previous day and down more than 20 percent within just half a month. The fall has been accelerated by reports that some BTS members as well as the firm's global CEO Lenzo Yoon sold a considerable amount of their shares in November. Thursday's fall of 6.38 percent is the biggest daily plunge since late June.According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure earlier this week, three BTS members ― Jin, J-Hope and RM ― sold

Dec 2, 2021By Anna J. Park

Younger CEO to lead KB Kookmin Bank

From left are KB Financial Group's vice chairman-nominee Hur Yin and KB Kookmin Bank CEO-nominee Lee Jae-keun. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungKB Financial Group recommended Lee Jae-keun, senior executive vice president at KB Kookmin Bank, as the next leader of the lender, KB's CEO recommendation committee said Wednesday.Starting from January 2022, Lee is scheduled to start his two-year term after receiving approval from the lender's shareholders.Lee, 55, will become the youngest CEO among major commercial lenders in Korea if KB's board approves the committee's choice. Behind the recommendation is the lender's expectation that Lee could help accelerate the banking arm's generational shift as the financial industry faces a major paradigm shift amid the post-pandemic rise of digital banking. The surprise reshuffle of top management reflects the group's willingness to pursue fundamental changes in its organization and corporate culture.Lee has a diverse range of experiences within the group. He served as a chief financial officer at the holding company and currently works as the head of the bank'

Dec 1, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Companies become conservative in their IPO valuations

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkAs the country's benchmark KOSPI hovers below 3,000 points, more than a 10-percent fall from its highest level this year, companies with imminent initial public offerings (IPO) this month and next are lowering their corporate valuations, a cautious move to win over investors.KTB Network, a first-generation venture capital firm, submitted a corporate valuation of 1 trillion won ($850 billion) in its prospectus, ahead of its upcoming IPO on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market this month. The valuation is based on a humble price-to-earning ratio (PER) of just 11.2 times (x). This figure is historically the lowest PER submitted by a local venture capital firm compared to others that went public. Most of the venture capital firms now listed on domestic stock markets had PERs of around 20x to 30x to calculate their market capitalization. KTB Network also used all ten local venture capital firms as a peer group when calculating the appropriate corporate valuation. Despite applying the lowest PER ever, KTB's cumulative net profit of 88.9 billion won in the past four qu

Dec 1, 2021By Anna J. Park

Banking & Finance