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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Mirae Asset to reap handsome profits from Didi Chuxing, Grab IPOs

Mirae Asset Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Mirae AssetBy Anna J. ParkMirae Asset Securities is expected to make handsome profits from its prior investments in Chinese vehicle-for-hire giant Didi Chuxing and Southeast Asian ride-hailing and food delivery service Grab, as both companies are expected to pursue initial public offerings (IPOs) in the U.S. in the coming months.The Korea-headquartered brokerage firm invested around 300 billion won ($266 million) in Didi Chuxing back in 2018, when the corporate value of the vehicle-for-hire company was estimated at around $56 billion. While the Chinese firm recently filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm's value is expected to reach as much as $100 billion due to the IPO, meaning that Mirae Asset may almost double its original investment.Mirae Asset also invested $150 million in Grab, which also aims to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger. When Mirae Asset Securities, together with Naver, made the pre-IPO investment in Grab, the Southeast Asian

Apr 13, 2021By Anna J. Park
Mirae Asset to reap handsome profits from Didi Chuxing, Grab IPOs

Will Hyundai Card vice chairman avoid handling labor issues?

Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young / Courtesy of Hyundai CardBy Park Jae-hyukChung Tae-young, who has served as the sole leader of Hyundai Motor Group's (HMG) three financial units ― Hyundai Card, Hyundai Capital and Hyundai Commercial ― over the past 14 years, is set to share his burden with three new chief executives, who are supposed to be appointed after each company's board meeting later this month.The three nominees are Hyundai Card CEO Kim Deok-hwan, Hyundai Capital CEO Mok Jin-won and Hyundai Commercial CEO Lee Byung-hui.All of them have experience working for other companies, including foreign firms, before joining HMG's financial arms. Kim served as a JPMorgan Chase vice president and a GE Money senior marketing leader. Mok worked for McKinsey & Company and Lee was at MetLife Korea.Hyundai Card cited the necessity of swift decision-making amid the digitization trend as the main reason for the planned governance reform at the company and its affiliates.Some industry officials, however, expect the three new CEOs will protect Chung from labor disputes and other unf

Apr 12, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Will Hyundai Card vice chairman avoid handling labor issues?

Woori faces growing pressure to buy brokerage firm

Woori Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukWoori Financial Group is facing growing pressure to re-acquire a brokerage license to bolster its non-banking business and further boost its stock price, amid the government's accelerated attempts to completely privatize the banking group. Last Friday, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) unloaded 2 percent of its stake in Woori for 149.3 billion won ($134 million), lowering its overall ownership in the group to 15.25 percent. This was the state deposit insurer's first divestment from Woori following a government announcement in June 2019 that it would recoup all taxpayer money injected into the group by 2022.The KDIC seems to have taken advantage of the recent hike in Woori's stock price, which reached a 52-week high of 10,850 won, Wednesday. The government's divestment plan was delayed last year because the stock price remained below 10,000 won after June.However, the share price needs to go up further and surpass 12,000 won for the government to avoid a loss. Securities analysts regard Woori's reacquisition of

Apr 11, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Woori faces growing pressure to buy brokerage firm

Union-backed outside directors become less likely in financial circles

Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Yoon Jong-won speaks during an online meeting with new employees of the lender at its headquarters in Seoul, on Mar. 24. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungFinancial institutions in Korea will face a tougher time appointing labor-recommended outside directors after the Financial Services Commission (FSC) blocked a much-anticipated move by the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK).The labor-recommended outside director system was one of President Moon Jae-in's election pledges to enhance the influence of labor against management. The government pledged to introduce the initiative starting in the public sector, and then widen it to private firms.IBK CEO Yoon Jong-won recommended to the FSC a number of candidates for two outside director seats, but the financial regulator ended up appointing two of IBK's management-backed figures, including Dankook University professor Kim Jung-hoon and Hanyang University professor Jung So-min. They will serve for three years as outside directors of the lender.Yoon also included labor-backed candidates on the shortlist, but they failed to be ap

Apr 9, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
Union-backed outside directors become less likely in financial circles

State deposit insurer KDIC sells 2% stake in Woori Financial

The state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) said Friday it sold a 2 percent stake in Woori Financial Holdings Co. as part of efforts to recoup taxpayer money injected into the company.The stake, or 14.5 million shares, was offloaded through a block sale in pre-market trading for 149.3 billion won (US$134 million), the KDIC said.The stake sale comes in line with a government road map to dispose of its interest in the major financial holding company, whose flagship is Woori Bank.It also marks the first stake disposal after the government announced its plan in 2019 to complete the sale of its remaining 17.25 percent stake in Woori Financial by 2022.The KDIC said the successful sale will likely help pave the way for an early privatization of Woori Financial and have a positive impact on maximizing the recovery of public funds.The government poured a total of 12.8 trillion won into Woori Finance, which was renamed Woori Financial in early 2019, to keep it afloat in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. The government sold a 28 percent stake to institutional investors

Apr 9, 2021
State deposit insurer KDIC sells 2% stake in Woori Financial

K bank fast encroaches on mobile banking market

The logos of K bank and Kakao BankBy Anna J. ParkBased on its successful strategic partnerships with the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, K bank is fast growing in its number of customers and in the size of those customers' assets at the bank.As of early this month, the internet-only bank's accumulated number of customers reached 3.9 million. Given that 1.72 million of them, or 44 percent of the entire customers, are new users who joined the bank during the first three months of this year, K bank's fast growth rate has been impressive enough to threaten its main competitor, Kakao Bank.K bank attributed the popularity of its online-only mortgage loan products and its strategic partnership with digital asset exchange Upbit as the key to attracting new user groups. The bank's flagship checking accounts, called “Plusbox,” giving 0.6 percent annual interest rates for just one day of depositing, also drew customers' attention. With the surge in the number of users during the first quarter, the internet-only bank's average received balance stood at 8.72 trillion

Apr 7, 2021By Anna J. Park
K bank fast encroaches on mobile banking market

Shinhan, KB, NongHyup may be allowed to open internet-only banks

gettyimagesbankBy Park Jae-hyukThe financial authorities will review the banking groups' plans to establish their own internet-only banks as early as July, after completing an assessment of the domestic banking industry's competitiveness in preparation for Viva Republica opening Toss Bank. “Based on the assessment, we will discuss whether to issue additional internet-only bank licenses and allow financial holding companies to establish their own internet-only banks,” a Financial Services Commission official said.This remark came as several banking groups started preparing the procedures to ask regulators to enable the opening of their own app-based banks. Only tech firms have been allowed so far, with Kakao running Kakao Bank, KT operating K bank and Viva Republica preparing to launch Toss Bank.Financial holding companies have participated in investments in those banks through their banking units. Woori Bank is the second-largest shareholder of K bank, while KB Kookmin Bank is the third-largest shareholder of Kakao Bank. Hana Bank is among the shareholders of Toss Bank.Ko

Apr 7, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Shinhan, KB, NongHyup may be allowed to open internet-only banks

NH Investment advised to pay full compensation to some investors over hedge fund scandal

An arbitration panel of financial authorities has advised NH Investment Securities to pay full compensation to some investors over a hedge fund scandal, citing a mistake in contracts promoting the fund, officials said Tuesday. Brokerage firm NH Investment has been under pressure to offer compensation as it promoted 470 billion won (US$417 million) of the fund managed by Optimus Asset Management, which is accused of wrongdoing and froze withdrawals due to liquidity problems. The scandal surrounding Optimus Asset Management centers on allegations that the private equity company solicited funds worth a total of some 1.2 trillion won from thousands of people for investments in public institutions but actually funneled most of the money into risky assets, causing huge losses to the investors. The panel of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said it has advised NH Investment to return the principal to investors in two contracts promoting the fund because the brokerage failed to properly explain about the risks of the fund to investors. If NH Investment accepts the panel's advice, about

Apr 6, 2021
NH Investment advised to pay full compensation to some investors over hedge fund scandal

China still obstructs KakaoPay's MyData business

A KakaoPay user makes a payment with his smartphone using a QR code in this file photo. Courtesy of KakaoPayBy Park Jae-hyukKakaoPay is still facing difficulties in its attempt to win a MyData license, as the Chinese authorities have yet to respond to a request from the financial authorities here to confirm whether or not the Korean fintech firm's second-largest shareholder, Alipay, is under any sanctions there. The MyData business is regarded as a future growth engine for most financial firms here as its license enables them to receive their customers' credit information from conventional financial firms, so that customers can access all their financial data in one place.KakaoPay's rivals in the fintech industry, such as Naver Financial, Viva Republica and Banksalad, already won MyData licenses earlier this year, when the Financial Services Commission (FSC) gave final approval to 28 companies.Hana Financial Group's four subsidiaries ― Finnq, Hana Financial Investment, Hana Bank and Hana Card ― whose review procedures had been halted over a criminal suit involving their largest share

Apr 5, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
China still obstructs KakaoPay's MyData business

SC, Citi urged to find new growth engines amid falling revenues

From left are Standard Chartered Bank Korea CEO Park Jong-bok and Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungStandard Chartered (SC) Bank Korea and Citibank Korea desperately need to find the means to tackle their falling revenue in Korea ― the two are major overseas lenders here that were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Both banks reported double-digit declines in net profit in 2020, compared to the year before. SC Bank Korea reported 257.1 billion won, down 18.2 percent from the previous year; while Citibank Korea chalked up 187.8 billion won in net profit, a drop of 32.8 percentIn addition, a series of other indices also indicated that it is high time they seek out new growth engines for a timely rebound in the local financial market, where uncertainty keeps escalating due to tightened dividend regulations and the prolonged low interest rate.According to data from the two lenders, SC Bank Korea's return on assets (ROA) dropped by 0.14 percentage points to 0.32 percent last year from the year before. The figure for Citibank Korea dropped by 0.19 percentag

Apr 5, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
SC, Citi urged to find new growth engines amid falling revenues
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