Business - The Korea Times

Why does Mirae Asset founder side with Beijing against Jack Ma?

Mirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo, left, and Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma / Korea Times fileBy Park Jae-hyukMirae Asset Financial Group founder Park Hyeon-joo has drawn attention from domestic investors, after he publicly gave support to Beijing's ongoing regulations on Ant Group and Jack Ma, the largest shareholder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's fintech arm.The Korean financial mogul's pro-Chinese government stance is widely interpreted as a kind of strategic choice for his company's success in both countries, although he cited “social balance” as the official reason for his remarks.Park, who is also serving as the global investment strategy officer (GISO) of Mirae Asset Daewoo, made the controversial remarks during a rare appearance on the brokerage firm's YouTube channel last week, in which he was sharing his investment philosophies with viewers.In the second video clip uploaded a day after his YouTube appearance, the GISO said the decision by Chinese authorities to prevent Ant from going public last November was quite appropriate for the sak

Jan 17, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk

Why does Mirae Asset founder side with Beijing against Jack Ma?

2021 expected to be banner year for Kakao Bank, Toss

A smartphone user views Kakao Bank's mobile banking app. Korea Times fileBy Kim Yoo-chulLast year was a historic year for initial public offerings (IPOs). While 2021 is shaping up to be no less exciting especially for fintechs, Kakao Bank and Toss are considered as some of the top IPO candidates that deserve a closer look.The COVID-19 pandemic was the primary reason for the stellar IPOs of some fintech companies last year. The pandemic triggered a major shift in consumers' financial services preferences to digital applications, which ended up boosting the appeal of fintechs to big investors. These developments have paved the way for more IPOs on the horizon. Faced with increasingly stringent financial regulations, fintechs are turning to digital banks for growth due to their increasing popularity among consumers.And amid greater regulatory scrutiny, competition and more digital bank license issuances, more M&As and opportunistic alliances among fintechs are expected to materialize as a means of boosting size, improving economies of scale and creating win-win strategies.Kakao Bank

Jan 17, 2021By Kim Yoo-chul

2021 expected to be banner year for Kakao Bank, Toss

Hankook Tire executive may lead K bank

Suh Ho-sungBy Park Jae-hyukHankook Tire & Technology Senior Vice President Suh Ho-sung has emerged as the top candidate to possibly lead K bank, succeeding the internet-only bank's former head, Lee Mun-whan, who abruptly resigned earlier this month citing personal reasons, less than a year after his appointment.The bank's executive recommendation committee interviewed Suh last week and nominated him as the sole candidate to replace Lee, according to industry sources Sunday. K bank Executive Vice President Chung Woon-ki, who is serving as the interim CEO, reportedly declined to take on the post permanently.Suh's appointment will be finalized after a board and general shareholders' meeting scheduled Feb. 1.“The appointment of the next CEO is underway, and we will make an announcement when the process is concluded,” a K bank spokesman said.If appointed to the position, Suh will be the first K bank CEO who has not worked at KT. Both Lee and his predecessor, Shim Sung-hoon, worked for the telecom giant, which is the bank's top shareholder.Given KT's long-standing preferenc

Jan 17, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk

Hana Bank pushes for English-language documentation

Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hana BankBy Lee Min-hyungHana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-taiHana Bank will introduce documents written in both English and Korean in the latter half of 2021, as part of a group-wide globalization vision, the lender said Friday.Under the plan, the bank will translate most Korean-language documents into English. Hana Financial Group's other subsidiaries will follow suit afterwards, according to the group.“Nothing specific is confirmed over when the process will be finished, but Hana Bank will start carrying out the drive sometime in the latter half of the year,” an official from the bank said.This comes as Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai has underlined the importance of the lender's aggressive globalization drive. In a New Year speech, he urged employees to pay more attention to expanding the group's global business with a focus on the Asian market.Currently, the group's overseas business accounts for around 20 percent of the total. Kim pledged to establish a stable business portfolio by increasing its global p

Jan 15, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Hana Bank pushes for English-language documentation

Will Korean bank stocks bounce back on blue wave?

U.S President-elect Joe Biden delivers an address in Atlanta for Democratic candidates on Jan. 4, the eve of the Georgia Senate election. AP-YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungInvestors are paying growing attention to whether Korean bank shares will be able to benefit from a so-called “blue wave,” a commonly used phrase referring to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's Democratic Party taking control of the House and Senate there.These results are widely seen as giving more leeway for Biden's push for pump-priming measures for the U.S. economy. The expectation raised the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note above 1 percent last week for the first time since the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic started engulfing the global economy in March last year.Given that Korea's market interest generally moves in tandem with that of the U.S., chances are growing this will come as a boon for Korean bank shares to get off to a fresh start this year and help them regain investor confidence after a sluggish performance throughout 2020, according to market experts.Starting last week, Korean bank shares

Jan 14, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Will Korean bank stocks bounce back on blue wave?

President's fund pick draws investor attention

Woori Financial Capital swears in new CEO

Woori Financial Capital CEO Park Kyoung-hoon speaks at an online inauguration ceremony at the firm's headquarters in Seocho District, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Woori Financial CapitalBy Lee Kyung-minWoori Financial Capital held a ceremony on Wednesday inaugurating its new CEO, Park Kyoung-hoon, the vehicle-financing subsidiary of Woori Financial Group said Thursday.“Group synergy, digital innovation and strengthening internal capabilities will be our top priorities, a set of future-oriented goals to make a leap forward to become a competitive capital firm,” he said during an online ceremony at the firm's headquarters in Seocho District, Seoul.The company said it plans to pursue drastic changes and innovation to prepare for fierce competition in the vehicle-financing market, a daunting task due to the country's slow economic recovery, tight financial regulations and protracted COVID-19 pandemic. Park's management drive will place a greater emphasis on mutual growth with the group's other subsidiaries via closer integration, cooperation and digital innovation to st

Jan 14, 2021By Lee Kyung-min

Woori Financial Capital swears in new CEO

Industrial Bank of Korea under pressure to appoint board member from union

Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Yoon Jong-won, second from right, poses with Kim Hyung-sun, center, the lender's labor union chief, at the headquarters of the Korea Federation of Banks in Seoul, on Jan. 27 last year. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungThe Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) is under pressure to give its union more of a say in its decision-making process, as a person recommended by the union is expected to become a non-executive board member for the first time in the country's banking industry.With two of the state-run bank's outside members set to finish their terms in February and March, respectively, the union demanded at least one of the two seats should be filled by an individual it will recommend.The union plans to select candidates for the position by the end of the month and speed up discussions with IBK CEO Yoon Jong-won over the plan.The union has urged the IBK chief to agree to introduce the union-recommended outside director appointment system.It hopes to set an exemplary case in the financial industry and plans to institutionalize the system, so other firms can follow a simil

Jan 13, 2021By Lee Min-hyung

Industrial Bank of Korea under pressure to appoint board member from union

Financial groups focus on investing in zero-carbon drives

GettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkKorea's major financial groups have launched zero-carbon initiatives, amid the public's rising awareness and demand for financial companies' sustainable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) investing strategies.One of the most important criteria for financial companies' ESG-linked investing is their efforts to support and finance businesses that aim for zero-carbon emissions and have eco-friendly business models. Shinhan Financial Group's board of directors decided recently to push forward an eco-friendly campaign titled “Zero Carbon Drive,” through which the financial group plans to ambitiously pursue zero carbon emissions in every project and business the group is involved in. “Shinhan Financial Group plans to first measure the amount of carbon emissions related to every asset the group currently holds, and then it plans to set a specific goal to cut the emissions,” an official from the group explained. “The group also plans to expand investment loans to businesses of new renewable energy, ultimately aiming

Jan 13, 2021By Anna J. Park

Financial groups focus on investing in zero-carbon drives

K bank in urgent search for new CEO

By Kim Bo-eun/K bank is urgently searching for a new figure to serve as its CEO after former chief Lee Mun-whan resigned abruptly, Friday. The digital bank did not offer an explanation about Lee's decision to step down. Lee became K bank's chief in April 2020 and his term was set to last until March 2022.The resignation came as a surprise given the efforts Lee made to normalize operations at the firm. K bank, the first internet bank established in Korea in 2017, faced obstacles in securing capital in its early years. This resulted in a virtual suspension of operations in 2019. New laws went into effect last year that enabled K bank to get back on its feet with fresh capital injections.Lee is known to have made all-out efforts in this process, pitching to shareholders last year and sharing the digital bank's vision for the future.The online-only bank appeared to be back on track in 2020 with new investments and new loan services drawing attention.Expectations had grown for the lender because Lee was formerly CEO of BC Card and had also worked as a senior executive with the telecom gia

Jan 11, 2021By Kim Bo-eun

All-digital CES loses popularity with Korean banking groups

An attendee passes by the stage during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas in this January 2020 file photo. / AP-YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukLocal banking groups are paying less attention to this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which kicked off Monday as an online event, for the first time in its 55-year history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their lukewarm attitude is in stark contrast to their keen interest in the previous year's event, to which they sent a number of top executives and employees to learn state-of-the-art technologies that might be applied to their digital banking services.Woori and NongHyup financial groups decided not to attend the world's largest electronics fair this year, after sending employees from their digital banking departments to the event in Las Vegas last year to look at technologies for their digitization projects.“Because we have been unable to look around the booths in person as before, our digital group considered this year's event less useful,” a Woori spokesman said.KB Financia

Jan 11, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk

Banking & Finance