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Woori, NongHyup outrun Hana in race to adopt Equator Principles

Seen are the promotional images from Woori and NongHyup banks, which show their adoption of the Equator Principles. Courtesy of each companyBy Park Jae-hyukWoori and NongHyup banks joined the Equator Principles Association this week, leaving Hana Bank behind as the only major commercial bank here that has yet to adopt the risk management framework intended to prevent financing for large-scale projects that can cause environmental damage or human rights abuses.The banking unit of Woori Financial Group became a new member of the association, last week, with an aim of bolstering environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors in its management. It organized a taskforce earlier to set up a process to follow the principles.“The adoption of the Equator Principles has enabled us to have an ESG management system satisfying global standards and to strengthen our competitiveness in sustainable management,” Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok said. “As a global financial institution, we will enhance our ESG management with sincerity by fulfilling our responsibility for

Aug 20, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Woori, NongHyup outrun Hana in race to adopt Equator Principles

Korean banking groups to offset Myanmar losses in Southeast Asia

The headquarters of Bank KB Bukopin located in Jakarta, Indonesia / Courtesy of KB Kookmin BankKorean banks preparing to expand businesses in ASEAN  By Anna J. ParkExpansion of overseas branches has become a key growth engine for major banks' business strategies, particularly in the Southeast Asian region. Despite unpredictable political situations in some countries in the region, as seen in the case of Myanmar where a number of Korea-headquartered banks were preparing to expand their businesses there, major banks are bracing for further growth in the region.KB Kookmin Bank has recently decided to join in the capital increase of 400 billion won ($340 million) for its Indonesian subsidiary, Bank KB Bukopin. KB Kookmin Bank became the largest shareholder of the Indonesian bank with a 67 percent stake, acquiring the additional equity in 2019, following its initial investment in 2018. With the capital increase, the bank expects its Indonesian subsidiary bank could further attract new customers, while enhancing IT infrastructure. Bank KB Bukopin now has total assets of 5.82 tril

Aug 19, 2021By Anna J. Park
Korean banking groups to offset Myanmar losses in Southeast Asia

Eximbank may appoint outside director backed by union

The main entrance of the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), a state-run firm under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, on Yeouido, Seoul / Korea Times fileBy Yi Whan-wooThe state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) is expected to finalize its list of candidates this week to fill one of the vacant positions among its three-member outside board of directors. The seat has been empty since May. The process is being carried out under the guidelines of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which oversees Eximbank and has the right to choose the successful candidate once the list is submitted.Who will be selected as the new outside director is drawing attention, as this opportunity may be the last chance during President Moon Jae-in's term to have someone recommended by the financial firm's union serving in the position. In line with the President's reform pledges, the Moon government had financial companies and relevant public organizations adopt a new management rule that requires management and labor unions separately to recommend candidates for outside director positions.In

Aug 18, 2021By Yi Whan-woo
Eximbank may appoint outside director backed by union

Banks question KakaoBank's risk management capability

KakaoBank's head office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of KakaoBankBy Lee Min-hyungKorea's conventional banks are questioning KakaoBank's risk management capability amid the online lender's rapid rise to become the nation's most valuable financial firm after its recent initial public offering (IPO).The market capitalization of KakaoBank came in at 41.52 trillion won ($35.28 billion) as of Tuesday's closing price on the benchmark KOSPI. This is almost twice as large as KB Financial Group's valuation which reached up to 22 trillion won during the same period.Before KakaoBank's attention-grabbing IPO earlier this month, KB maintained its position as the nation's largest financial holding firm.Officials from the traditional banking industry, however, urged investors to be wary of the dramatically rapid growth of KakaoBank, which opened for business in 2017, as the sustainable growth of any financial company relies on whether they can prove their credibility to customers on a long-term basis.“The financial industry is somewhat different from other industrial sectors, such

Aug 17, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Banks question KakaoBank's risk management capability

Hana Bank supports Cheonan warship families

A Hana Bank official holds a placard showing the bank's support for the bereaved families of the 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship in this photo, Monday. Hana Bank said that it has signed a contract with guardians of the remaining underage children of the sailors who perished in the sinking, to provide support for the safe and transparent management of the national donations collected for them. In 2010, 46 South Korean sailors were killed when the warship sunk, the cause of which is still disputed, but which some believe to be a torpedo from a North Korean submarine infiltrating South Korea's part of the Yellow Sea. Courtesy of Hana Bank

Aug 16, 2021By Baek Byung-yeul
Hana Bank supports Cheonan warship families

Weak earnings making Citibank Korea less attractive to potential buyers

Citibank Korea's headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Citibank KoreaBy Park Jae-hyukCitigroup is facing another setback in its ongoing attempt to sell its retail banking unit here: Citibank Korea's weak earnings during the first half of the year.In contrast to domestic commercial banks that enjoyed rapid rises in their first-half net incomes, Citibank Korea's first-half net profit dropped 11 percent year-on-year to 80.1 billion won ($69 million), while its revenue also fell 11.6 percent to 276.3 billion won during the same period.Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon, who told the bank's employees a month earlier that both consumer and corporate financing sectors were expected to show satisfactory results, attributed the poor performance to the challenging business environment prolonged by the COVID-19 pandemic.Although the CEO emphasized that the bank has continued to enhance its overall customer experience in consumer banking through improvements in its mobile application and marketing strategies, the earnings decline seems to make Citibank Korea's retail banking unit less attractive to

Aug 16, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Weak earnings making Citibank Korea less attractive to potential buyers

Commemorating National Liberation Day

KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin speaks with Independence Hall of Korea President Han See-jun via an online link at the bank's main branch in Seoul, Thursday, to celebrate the completion of a wall built on Reunification Hill on the hall's plot of land in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. KB said the wall was built with 9,000 bricks donated by the bank's customers to commemorate the 76th National Liberation Day on Aug. 15. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank

Aug 15, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Commemorating National Liberation Day

Large, traditional banks unattractive workplace for IT experts

Programmers prefer liberal, project-oriented office culture to incentivesBy Lee Min-hyungThe much touted plan by major Korean banks to increase recruitment of IT experts continues to hit a snag, as software developers still do not consider the financial sector as an ideal workplace in terms of office culture. Amid the rise of digital banking, traditional banks and financial firms here are on track to scale down their regular recruitment of conventional banking staff, as they seek to establish more skilled manpower in the area of IT and mobile banking.Most big lenders are accepting applications for the positions year-round, in their bid to achieve a swift digital transformation to be ready for the post-pandemic world. But there appears to be a distinct difference between their desires and reality, as few IT specialists want to start a career in the financial industry and prefer to work at more creative workplaces with an open-minded corporate culture.“When software developers choose a company, the top priority

Aug 15, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Large, traditional banks unattractive workplace for IT experts

Foreign investors dumping Korean stocks amid 4th COVID wave

An electronic sign in the trading room of Hana Bank in Seoul shows the benchmark KOSPI closing 1.16 percent lower, Friday, at 3,171.29 points. YonhapBy Lee Kyung-minForeign investors have been dumping stocks of major Korean companies amid growing uncertainties caused by the unrelenting fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, sending a shudder through the local financial market. Experts forecast that foreigners will continue to sell local shares, particularly semiconductor stocks, such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which they expect will further weigh on the market.Pounded by the selling spree, the benchmark KOSPI dropped for the seventh consecutive trading days Friday, while the Korean won continued to lose ground against the U.S. dollar.The KOSPI dipped 37.09 points, or 1.16 percent, to close at 3,171.29 points, as major chipmakers came under heavy pressure from overseas investors amid concerns of a fall in semiconductor prices. The local currency closed at 1,169 won to the dollar, down 7.8 won from the previous close, and the weakest level in around 11 months since it ended at

Aug 13, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Foreign investors dumping Korean stocks amid 4th COVID wave
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