Business - The Korea Times

INTERVIEW Breaking through glass ceiling

Gender is not an issue for first female brokerage chiefBy Kim Bo-eunKB Securities CEO Park Jeong-rimAs the first woman appointed CEO of a securities firm in Korea, KB Securities CEO Park Jeong-rim is frequently asked about what it is like to be a female leader in the male-centered finance industry.But for Park, gender has never been an issue."The question should rather be: what is it like to be a CEO?" she told The Korea Times in an interview, Wednesday.Park, who was appointed and started her term in January 2019, has competed fair and square, doing what it takes, even if it meant drinking heavily at dinner meetings.She began her career at Chase Manhattan Bank and was with Choheung Economic Research Institute. She managed the asset risk management division at Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance before joining KB Kookmin Bank as manager of market operation risk. She then became the second female senior executive at Kookmin Bank.Now Park is co-CEO at KB Securities, alongside Kim Seong-hyun. She also heads KB Financial Group's capital market division.Park oversees wealth management, sal

Jun 15, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

[INTERVIEW] Breaking through glass ceiling

Korea's plan to foster 'Goldman Sachs' back in limbo

Pandemic, regulations block brokerages from becoming IB powerhousesBy Lee Min-hyungThe government's much-hyped plan to turn local securities companies into the Korean version of super-large investment banking players has hit a snag amid virus-induced market uncertainties and toughened regulations. In 2016, the financial authorities here introduced the drive under which brokerage firms whose total equity topped 4 trillion won ($3.32 billion) were eligible for a license to become the super-large investment bank.Those who win the license can issue a promissory note worth the double amount of their equity. The procedure is crucial for local securities players to expand their business volume under the vision of becoming the Korean version of Goldman Sachs.The ambitious drive, however, is facing an unexpected setback, with the so-called big securities players here failing to make smooth progress in the plan due to regulatory hurdles and the prolonged economic downturn here.As of June 8, only three securities firms

Jun 15, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Korea's plan to foster 'Goldman Sachs' back in limbo

New entity to be launched in July to take over Lime's funds

Lime Asset Management's office on Yeouido / Korea Times fileBy Kim Bo-eunAn asset managing entity will be set up by the end of next month to take over the funds of the virtually defunct Lime Asset Management, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Wednesday.The entity will be tasked with making payments to investors of Lime's funds as the hedge fund was determined to be unable to pay back investors due to mismanagement of funds. A wide range of irregularities were found in the company's management of investments.Authorities said the decision to set up the entity was made to ensure investors are able to redeem their investments as quickly as possible.Twenty distributors of Lime's funds including banks and brokerages have pooled 5 billion won to set up the entity. Authorities advised the firms to take part in handling the fallout of the Lime incident as they are suspected to be responsible for mis-selling Lime's funds.Because Shinhan Financial Group's brokerage and bank units sold the largest amount of Lime's funds, it has become the largest shareholder of the entity.Lime's distr

Jun 10, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

New entity to be launched in July to take over Lime's funds

Korean banks struggling to secure digital talent

Inflexible system prompts young engineers to leaveBy Park Jae-hyukShinhan, KB, Hana and Woori financial groups are facing difficulties in attracting young engineers equipped with digital skills, due to their rigid corporate culture and tough financial regulations.Despite the nation's four largest banking groups' efforts to find such people to engineer their digital transformation as the trend for contactless transactions grows due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IT experts are choosing to work for tech firms, rather than becoming bank employees.According to industry sources, hundreds of experienced engineers and designers rushed to visit Naver Financial's website between May 11 and 15 to apply for about 30 positions available at the IT giant's financial subsidiary.In contrast, all 15 KB employees sent to KakaoBank in 2016 refused to return to their previous workplace late last year, despite attractive incentives from their previous employer.These cases may seem weird to those who remember when banks were popular workplaces here because of their stability and high salaries.Korean students,

Jun 10, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Korean banks struggling to secure digital talent

State banks' financial soundness worsening amid pandemic

By Anna J. ParkState-run banks' financial soundness has been deteriorating, as their capital adequacy ratios are on a steady decline as a result of expanding financial aid for local firms hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the Bank for International Settlement (BIS) capital adequacy ratio for Korea Development Bank (KDB) stood at 13.33 percent at the end of March, down 0.73 percentage points from 14.05 percent at the end of last year. The ratios for Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) also fell to 13.73 percent and 14.26 percent, respectively, from 14.56 percent and 14.47 percent during the same period.The BIS ratio, a barometer for banks' financial soundness, is the proportion of a bank's capital to its risk-weighted assets.The state-run banks increased loans to local businesses, supporting small- and medium-sized companies and the nation's key industries as well as stabilizing corporate bond markets. Yet a bank official from one of the state-run banks said the government plans to buttress the

Jun 10, 2020By Anna J. Park

State banks' financial soundness worsening amid pandemic

Samsung Fire union threatens Lee Jae-yong

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance union leader Oh Sang-hoon, third from right, reads a statement after filing a petition with the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Administration, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukUnions of Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Samsung Claim Adjustment Service began calling for the company's management and Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to accept their request for wage increases.They warned that they will file civil and criminal suits against the management if their request is not accepted.According to the unions, Wednesday, their petition was submitted to the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Administration a day earlier.They alleged their companies have delayed paying overtime to their employees.“Since the Samsung Fire union was established on Jan. 23, we have held 10 meetings with the management, but the CEO has never appeared in a venue for negotiation,” Samsung Fire union leader Oh Sang-hoon said after filing the petition.“If our petition does not work, we will push forward our next steps ― civil and crim

Jun 10, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Samsung Fire union threatens Lee Jae-yong

Safety of fintech services questioned

The headquarters of Toss in southern Seoul / Korea Times fileCustomers leaving Toss after payment fraud incidentBy Kim Bo-eunPayments made via financial services platform Toss using stolen data earlier this month have placed the fintech unicorn in the hot seat. Toss has stated this was not a cybersecurity breach, but concerns are rising over the platform's ability to detect suspicious transactions, resulting in customers leaving the company.Toss did not provide details but conceded Tuesday it has seen customers leave the platform over concerns related to the incident, after reports surfaced on the case that took place last week. Even if it wasn't a hacking incident, customers appear to feel uneasy, as it is unknown how the data was obtained.A total of 9.38 million won in payments were made June 3 on three websites, including a game company, using stolen data of eight Toss customers. A police investigation is ongoing to find out who made the payments.Four of the eight customers reached out to Toss after finding out about the payments. Toss said it was able to find four more customers

Jun 9, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

K bank normalizes operation with new product

K bank CEO Lee Moon-hwan / Courtesy of K bankBy Anna J. ParkK bank will launch a new checking account service early next month, normalizing the internet-based bank's business operation, the lender said Tuesday. This is the first time in a year that the internet-only bank has come up with a new product for customers. The bank said it will stop registering customers for its existing “Dual K Checking Account” in early July and introduce the new, upgraded checking account serviceMarket watchers see the move as an indication that the bank is seeking to normalize its operations as a capital increase issue has recently been cleared up. BC Card, a subsidiary of KT which owns a 10 percent stake in K bank, decided to buy the KT shares and raise its stake in the lender to 34 percent by purchasing new shares issued by the bank.K bank is the nation's very first internet-only bank that began operation in April 2017. But it has suffered from a lack of capital since last year. It initially hoped to receive a capital injection from the mobile carrier KT, which looked to become the bank's

Jun 9, 2020By Anna J. Park

K bank normalizes operation with new product

MetLife enhances interactions between customers, sales agents

The Health Friends program is part of MetLife's 360Health, the firm's end-to-end preventive health program launched in 2018 across Asia. / Courtesy of MetLife KoreaBy Anna J. ParkIn an effort to increase quality of interactions between insurance sales agents and customers, MetLife Korea has been successfully running its Health Friends program ― a special health education program for agents ― since last year. The five-week health education program consists of lectures from renowned doctors at Samsung Hospital, aiming to improve understanding on chronic and serious illnesses Koreans suffer most, including strokes, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure.Fifty selected sales agents participated in the first round of the Health Friends program for this year ending in mid-May, and two more rounds will be held later this year. The program was launched as a pilot program last year in collaboration with Kangbuk Samsung Hospital and Green Cross to provide sales agents with training covering various medical topics. Participating sales agents showed as much as a 16 percent higher productivity

Jun 9, 2020By Anna J. Park

MetLife enhances interactions between customers, sales agents

Kakao encroaches on realm of traditional financial groups

By Anna J. ParkWill IT-based internet platform companies, like Kakao or Naver, ultimately encroach on the realm of traditional financial groups? Given the movements of the stock market alone, it seems it is already happening.Korea's largest mobile messenger app operator and internet platform company Kakao's market capitalization has currently reached about 22 trillion won ($18.2 billion), up by 12 trillion won from a year ago. The firm's stock price has more than doubled during the past year, as its price logged 251,000 won on June 5, up about 110 percent from 120,000 won of June 7 last year.While the internet-based company has successfully expanded itself into an innovative financial service provider, as it successfully launched Kakao Bank, Kakao Pay and Kakao Pay Securities over the past few years, the four major financial groups ― Shinhan Financial Group, KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group and Woori Financial Group ― have witnessed their total market capitalization on the KOSPI market diminishing. Ove

Jun 9, 2020By Anna J. Park

Banking & Finance

Banking & Finance

INTERVIEW Breaking through glass ceiling

Korea's plan to foster 'Goldman Sachs' back in limbo

New entity to be launched in July to take over Lime's funds

Korean banks struggling to secure digital talent

State banks' financial soundness worsening amid pandemic

Samsung Fire union threatens Lee Jae-yong

Safety of fintech services questioned

K bank normalizes operation with new product

MetLife enhances interactions between customers, sales agents

Kakao encroaches on realm of traditional financial groups

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