Business - The Korea Times

NongHyup Bank CEO named NH Financial chairman

NongHyup Financial Group Chairman nominee Son Byung-hwanBy Park Jae-hyukNongHyup (NH) Bank CEO Son Byung-hwan was nominated as the new chairman to lead the bank's holding company until the end of 2022, NH Financial Group said Tuesday.The nomination came just nine months after he was appointed the bank's CEO in March.If his appointment gets approval from the board of directors and shareholders, he will be the second chairman who has not worked as a government official, following Chairman Shin Choong-shik, who led the group after it spun off from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) in 2012.“Until this year, we have focused on being systemized as a financial holding company, but from next year, we will pursue stable growth and look for new businesses by creating a synergy effect with farmers,” the group's executive recommendation committee said in a statement. “From that standpoint, we considered Son the most qualified person to lead the group in the post-COVID-19 era for his great insight and expertise in digitization.”After majoring in agric

Dec 22, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

NongHyup Bank CEO named NH Financial chairman

JB Financial ups competitiveness with robotics process automation

JB Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of JB Financial GroupBy Lee Min-hyungJB Financial Group said Monday it has started utilizing robotic process automation (RPA) technologies at its sales offices.According to the financial holding firm, Jeonbuk Bank, one of the group's banking affiliates, started introducing the RPA for bank clerks in sales offices, reducing the burden of taking on repetitive and tedious tasks. RPA refers to a software robot developed to complete tasks carried out by people.JB Financial has used the technologies to automate such tasks handled at its headquarters, but this is the first time that it has expanded RPA use into sales channels, the group said.It plans to use RPA when sending electronic bank statements to its customers and will expand the use into more diverse areas in its future.JB expects the introduction of RPA to take on 36,000 hours of work previously handled by bank clerks each year, according to the group.The mid-tier financial holding firm is also expanding digitization to other affiliates. In October, Kwangju Bank, another banking a

Dec 21, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

JB Financial ups competitiveness with robotics process automation

MBK to select scholarship awardees

MBK Scholarship Foundation Chairman Michael Byungju Kim, front row center, sits next to scholarship awardees during the award ceremony in this file photo. / Courtesy of MBK Scholarship FoundationBy Park Jae-hyukThe MBK Scholarship Foundation, which was established in 2007 using MBK Partners Chairman Michael Byungju Kim's own money, will select scholarship awardees among low-income students who will enter university next year, the foundation said Monday.According to the foundation, applicants should send relevant documents by mail between Jan. 4 and 13. Interviewees will receive notice by Jan. 19, and online interviews will be held between Jan. 21 and 23. The list of scholarship recipients will be announced Jan. 26.“Through the financial support, we are trying to serve as a foothold for students to become leaders in various fields,” Kim said in a press release. “It is a more difficult time due to COVID-19, but I hope the awardees return what they receive to society, when they become leaders in each field after finishing their studies.”MBK said it will pay the e

Dec 21, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Financial groups opt for stable leadership in CEO appointment

Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong / Courtesy of Shinhan BankShinhan and KB reappoint most CEOs of their key affiliates with new terms By Anna J. ParkShinhan Financial Group has chosen a path of leadership stability for the next couple of years, after reappointing 11 incumbent CEOs out of its 14 affiliates to continue in their positions for one or two year terms.The group said Friday that top management, including Chairman Cho Yong-byoung, had decided that the 11 would keep their posts at least for the next year. Out of them, Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong and Shinhan Card CEO Lim Young-jin, who head the two key affiliates of the financial giant, were given two-year terms. Usually, financial firms here give CEOs a two-year term, followed by a one-year term if they have been successful managers. The group explained that the two-year term will allow Jin and Lim to promote mid- to long-term strategies amid the market uncertainties and fast-changing environment in the financial sector. “CEOs reappointed for just one year tend to focus on short-term goals, rather than mid- to long-term stra

Dec 19, 2020By Anna J. Park

Financial groups opt for stable leadership in CEO appointment

Banks plan for post-virus manpower reduction

Seen above is a sales office of Hana Bank in Seoul, Dec. 15. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungKorean banks are preparing to reduce their workforces once the coronavirus situation eases, a preemptive move to cut fixed costs amid prevailing challenges surrounding low interest rates.Revenue from issuing loans has for decades served as a major cash cow for commercial lenders here, but skepticism is growing over whether they will be able to generate as much interest-related margins as in the past.With the second and third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading here and abroad heightening the sense of financial uncertainty, banks are poised to reduce unnecessary costs and seek management efficiency in the face of possibly longer-than-expected economic damage from the coronavirus.For banks, manpower reduction is considered one of most efficient options to cut fixed costs at a time when the financial authorities are calling on them to set up more reserves for bad debts for fear of additional economic damage from the virus shock.NongHyup Bank was the first to ask for voluntary resignations from its emp

Dec 19, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Banks plan for post-virus manpower reduction

Foreign Bankers' Group joins annual giving campaign

Foreign Bankers' Group (FBG) Chairman Hyun Jong-hoon, left, donates 20 million won ($18,206) to the Community Chest of Korea on behalf of FBG member companies at the fundraising organization's headquarters in Seoul, Friday, as part of their annual giving campaign. The FBG, founded in 1984, provides a forum for discussion and cooperation among 46 foreign banks from 20 countries doing business in Korea. The association is currently led by ING Bank country manager Hyun since last year. / Courtesy of FBG

Dec 18, 2020By Anna J. Park

Foreign Bankers' Group joins annual giving campaign

Woori to build AI system for accurate market forecast

Woori Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungWoori Bank has started building an artificial intelligence (AI) system to ensure more precise market forecasting and risk management, the lender said Friday. The development of the system will be finished by the end of July next year, and the bank plans to incorporate it into its banking app.This will help more users predict the financial market with ease and convenience, while at the same time reducing potential risks when the bank launches new products.“The AI system will automatically analyze massive datasets in use for market analysis, enabling customers to carry out a diverse set of asset management procedures more swiftly and accurately,” an official from Woori said.The procedures include market forecast and analysis, asset allocation, portfolio composition and product rebalancing.With the help of the system, customers will be able to reduce risks and form more accurate and individualized portfolios when making investments, according to the lender.“We are going to complete building the system

Dec 18, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Woori to build AI system for accurate market forecast

Number of foreign borrowers on the rise

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min Local lenders are seeing an increase in loan applications from foreign borrowers, mostly young people in their 20s and 30s seeking credit loans averaging 60 million won ($54,894), a credit information service provider report said Thursday.The foreign loan market has grown and is expected to grow further due to the expansion of tailored financial services for foreigners amid local lenders' collective efforts to identify new customer bases, as illustrated by the expansion of services provided in multiple languages.According to a report by the Korea Credit Information Services (KCIS), the number of foreign borrowers living in Korea was 99,787 and they had a combined balance of 5.97 trillion won in outstanding loans as of June 2020. The number of borrowers grew 26 percent on average between 2016 and 2019, with the annual growth rate of loan balances averaging 9.6 percent.This is much higher than the 1.6 percent growth in the number of borrowers and 5.3 percent growth in the loan balance.The average outstanding loan balance per foreign customer has been on

Dec 17, 2020By Lee Kyung-min

Bank stocks losing growth momentum despite year-end dividend season

Logos of the nation's top-four banks are seen in this photo. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungBank stocks are losing their growth momentum, even as the year-end dividend season draws near. In most cases, stocks of financial holding firms rise around December, as investors turn their eyes on dividend offerings from major banksBut this appears not to be the case this year amid the growing likelihood that dividend payments will decline this year, compared to 2019, as the financial authorities have repeated calls for banks to reduce dividends temporarily in consideration of the virus-induced economic uncertainties.Banks have fallen victim to the pressure from regulators, with investors paying less attention to financial stocks. For major lenders, their stock prices have been on a gradual rise since late November amid investors' hope for year-end dividends.The stock prices of the nation's top four financial holding firms ― KB Financial, Shinhan Financial, Hana Financial and Woori Financial groups ― reported outstanding growth in mid-December last year.But all of them failed to bounce back to the lev

Dec 17, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Bank stocks losing growth momentum despite year-end dividend season

Korean banks' corporate culture draws complaints in India

An aerial view of New Delhi / GettyimagesbankText messages allegedly sent to an Indian employee from the general manager of a Korean commercial bank's New Delhi branch.Local employees complain about Korean managersBy Park Jae-hyukKorean banks in India appear to have a long way to go to better understand their local employees and narrow the cultural gap, although it has been almost three decades since the lenders made inroads into the world's second-most populous country.Earlier this week, emails written in English and Korean were sent to several executives and employees of a Korean commercial bank here and in India to condemn the general manager of the bank's New Delhi branch for his alleged irregularities, harassment and violations of COVID-19 guidelines.“He uses tools like issuing warning letters for even small matters, which includes clauses like termination of services,” the letter reads. “Employees working for more than 10 years at the bank and those rewarded by the headquarters on multiple occasions have received these letters, and in every meeting, they are t

Dec 15, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Banking & Finance