Business - The Korea Times

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

Korean banks' corporate culture draws complaints in India

Woori pledges to go carbon neutral by 2050

Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seungBy Lee Min-hyungWoori Financial Group said Sunday it would become a carbon-neutral company by 2050 to help fight climate change.The move is part of Woori's group-wide efforts to transform itself into a more sustainable financial holding firm by fulfilling environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).The company decided to stop making additional investments into coal power plants as a first step to achieve its carbon-free vision, Woori said.“We will stop engaging in any new project financing or bond investment into establishing coal power plants,” a company official said. “Woori will also retrieve all the capital invested in existing coal projects after their maturity date comes due.”The group also said all of its subsidiaries ― including Woori Bank and Woori Card ― are going to join the carbon-free drive and make more investments into eco-friendly energy projects.Toward that end, Woori said it would launch a new committee dedicated to discussing group-wide ESG management strategies. Leaders of Woori affiliate

Dec 13, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Woori pledges to go carbon neutral by 2050

LG Chem to purchase renewable energy from China for carbon neutrality

Banking apps approved to expand into platform businesses

GettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkBanking apps in Korea could soon be able to provide various platform business functions, such as food delivery and shopping, as early as next year. The approval allowing local banking apps' expansion into the platform business was made late last week, as the Financial Services Commission (FSC) decided to ease regulations on the domestic digital finance sector with an aim to create a fairer environment for competition.The FSC has been looking into the matter for quite a time, as voices of criticism have been consistently raised against the financial regulator that the local finance industry is suffering from an uneven playing field due to regulations, compared to tech-based IT giants ― which have been threatening traditional banking companies with their extensive expansion into various sectors, including the finance and shopping industries. Big-tech companies based on web portals or mobile messengers like Naver and Kakao have aggressively expanded into a myriad of business fields, particularly in finance, including banking, securities, insurances and paym

Dec 13, 2020By Anna J. Park

Banking apps approved to expand into platform businesses

KDB Next Round Closing Day

Korea Development Bank (KDB) Chairman Lee Dong-gull delivers a congratulatory address for “KDB Next Round Closing Day” at its investor relations center on Yeouido in Seoul, Friday. Investors, venture capitalists and startups from the U.S., Singapore and Australia joined the online event that wrapped up the bank's 102 rounds of investor relations events this year with 334 startups. / Courtesy of KDB

Dec 13, 2020By Anna J. Park

Financial groups cry foul over regulator's interference in dividend payments

The headquarters of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) located on Yeouido, Seoul. / Korea Times file Regulatory control feared to damage shareholder valueBy Anna J. ParkThe nation's financial groups are facing a dilemma over their slated dividend payments early next year, as the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recommended for local financial giants to reduce dividend payments by 15 percent to 20 percent for the sake of strengthening the financial groups' crisis management in the face of the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.While financial groups agree that they should be prepared for coping with the risk factors of the market situation by securing as much capital as possible, it's also hard to let down retail and foreign investors' expectations of handsome dividend rates.Retail investors of the local financial groups expressed anger over the authorities' recent move to curtail the groups' annual dividend payouts, as some of them even filed an online petition on

Dec 11, 2020By Anna J. Park

Financial groups cry foul over regulator's interference in dividend payments

K bank expected to follow similar growth path as Kakao Bank

K bank logo / Courtesy of K bankBy Anna J. ParkKorea's first internet-only bank K bank finally seems to be on the right track. A recent analysis report published by CAPE Investment & Securities said K bank is expected to follow a similar growth path as Kakao Bank. Kakao Bank is the nation's second internet-only bank, yet it overtook K bank because of its strong user platform guaranteed by the country's largest mobile messenger app Kakao Talk. Kakao Bank has been growing fast, achieving net profit in 2019 after opening in 2017. But K bank's growth was stunted during that time due to regulatory limitations surrounding its major shareholders. That problem was finally solved with a revision to related laws in April. According to the report, K bank is expected to experience a profit turnaround when its capital assets reach 950 billion won ($870 million). As of the third quarter this year, its total capital was about 524 billion won. It means that if the bank has a 400 billion won to 500 billion won capital increase, it could reach its break-even point. “While the average banking

Dec 11, 2020By Anna J. Park

K bank expected to follow similar growth path as Kakao Bank

Shinhan recognized for green leadership 7 years in a row

Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung'By Lee Kyung-min Shinhan Financial Group has topped the 2020 list compiled by a global not-for-profit carbon-neutral advocacy group that recognizes firms with a vision for sustainable growth, for the seventh consecutive year.This will help the group solidify its leadership in environment, social and corporate governance (ESG), a set of criteria prioritized among many leading international firms for green, sustainable growth.The group said Thursday that it retained Leadership A, a score determined by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) that runs a carbon disclosure system to manage environmental impacts for investors, companies, cities, states and regions. Some 270 firms from around the world are on the list.The CDP's annual report is among the most respected independent sustainability ranking systems alongside the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). The organization gives scores ranging from D- to A to ?take firms “on a journey?through disclosure to awareness, management and finally to leadership,” according to its web

Dec 10, 2020By Lee Kyung-min

Shinhan recognized for green leadership 7 years in a row

Strategic ties between Woori Bank, SOCAR

Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok, right, and SOCAR CEO Park Jae-uk hold copies of a memorandum of understanding at the bank's main branch in Seoul, Wednesday. The two companies agreed to cooperate with each other in the sharing platform business and supply chain financing. / Courtesy of Woori Bank

Dec 10, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Strategic ties between Woori Bank, SOCAR

Mirae Asset Daewoo promotes Kim, Min to executive presidents

By Kim Bo-eunKim Byung-yoonMirae Asset Daewoo promoted Kim Byung-yoon and Min Kyung-boo to executive president positions, Wednesday.Kim has led the brokerage's innovation team since March 2017. Min has headed the management support division since December 2019.Kim and Min are among 66 officials at Mirae Asset Group's securities firm who have been promoted for 2021.Mirae Asset Global Investments, the group's asset management unit, promoted 37 officials, and Mirae Asset Life Insurance promoted 17.The group said it increased promotions for the wealth management division, which showed solid performance amid uncertainties prevailing in the COVID-19 situation. The group also stated the promotions reflected Mirae Asset's drive to offer innovative financial services.Min Kyung-boo"Next year, as a global investment group, we will contribute to boosting dynamism in innovative financial services in Korea and will offer customer wealth management services with a higher notch in quality,” the group stated.Mirae Asset Group is expected to achieve record earnings in 2020. It logged 1.5 trillio

Dec 9, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

Mirae Asset Daewoo promotes Kim, Min to executive presidents

Woori wins The Banker's 2020 global award for lenders

Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok speaks at the lender's strategy meeting for the latter half of 2020 at Woori's headquarters in central Seoul, July 17. Courtesy of Woori BankBy Kim Bo-eunWoori Bank won The Banker's global award for lenders this year, for its digital services and response to the COVID-19 pandemic.The award was presented Dec. 2.The U.K. international financial affairs publication referred to Woori as being "at the forefront of international banking, from digital capacity to its customer services."Woori Bank introduced an artificial intelligence (AI) integrated screening system to strengthen its sanctions screening process in January. The system has proven useful in monitoring and classifying shipping documents. Woori Bank has filed a patent application for this new method of screening export and import shipping documents."A zero-based innovation system was also introduced, which examined business systems across all divisions of the bank, from beginning to end, and introduced multiple improvements to its operations," the publication said.The Banker also recognized Woori's