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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.

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
Kakao encroaches on realm of traditional financial groups

Donation for rare disease patients

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Yoon Jong-won, front row left, poses with small firms' employees and their family members during a donation ceremony held at the bank's headquarters in central Seoul, Monday. The bank donated 500 million won ($415,000) for family members of small companies' employees who are suffering from rare diseases. / Courtesy of IBK

Jun 8, 2020By Anna J. Park
Donation for rare disease patients

Brokerages, banks shut down branches amid pandemic

By Anna J. ParkKorean brokerages and banks are accelerating their efforts to shut down branches to reduce costs and adapt to the growing trend of contactless transactions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, people have been relying more on digital transactions, avoiding direct human contact, for their banking activities and financial investments.According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of branches run by the top 10 securities companies, including Mirae Asset Daewoo, KB, Shinhan, Korea and NH Investment, stood at 556 in March this year, down 59 (9.5 percent) from a year earlier. The figure was 672 two years ago.Viewed on a quarterly basis, there has been a continual decreasing trend over the last three years. Since the spring in 2017, about 20 percent of all local branches of the 10 major securities firms in Korea shut their doors. Mirae Asset Daewoo has shown the most drastic fall in the number of branches over the years. The firm had 174 branches countrywide ― the largest number of branches ― in 2017, yet it

Jun 8, 2020By Anna J. Park
Brokerages, banks shut down branches amid pandemic

Shinhan to support Korea's New Deal projects

Shinhan Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukShinhan Financial Group said Monday it will launch a project named N.E.O. ― standing for “new economic growth supporting operations” ― to help the government's ongoing efforts to develop the country's new growth engines with a Korean version of the New Deal.According to the nation's leading banking group, the project is aimed at offering financial support to innovative industries, leading digital financing and fostering a new business ecosystem.To achieve these goals, Shinhan plans to extend more loans to startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaging in data, digital infrastructure, social overhead capital and eco-friendly businesses.It also joined hands with Yonsei University to create a system to measure the social value of companies that seek to receive its financial support.Shinhan said it will inject 85 trillion won ($71 billion) over the next five years to help the innovative startups and SMEs.In addition, it vowed to make efforts to boost the government-run financial data excha

Jun 8, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk
Shinhan to support Korea's New Deal projects

Hana in dilemma over dividend payment

Hana Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hana Financial GroupBy Park Jae-hyukHana Financial Group is in a dilemma over whether to pay dividends to its shareholders at the end of the first half, after the financial authorities urged it to cut such payments during the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen reserves, according to industry officials, Monday.The financial services holding company said it has yet to make a decision on the matter.Given that the deadline for its interim dividend payments is June 30, according to its articles of association, Hana will likely make an announcement around the middle of the month.Analysts, however, believe the financial firm will pay interim dividends this year, despite the financial authorities' recommendation.“We expect Hana will continue to pay dividends to its shareholders as usual, given that the financial authorities' recommendation has been considered less reasonable recently,” Meritz Securities analyst Eun Kyung-wan said.In Korea, Hana is the only financial holding company that pays interim dividends to shareholders.E

Jun 8, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk
Hana in dilemma over dividend payment

IT giants looming over finance industry

By Kim Bo-eunFinancial firms are keeping a keen eye on IT giants Naver and Kakao that are continuing to expand in the financial services industry. The tech companies hold immense potential, as they are able to provide innovative services based on their tech capabilities and have access to massive pools of data from their e-commerce platforms.Kakao established a presence in the finance sector with its internet lender Kakao Bank. The leading internet bank continues to expand services as a platform, enabling users to sign up for credit cards as well as brokerage accounts.Kakao Pay, Kakao's mobile payment subsidiary, has also continued to broaden its line of business, offering insurance products on its platform, after acquiring an "insurtech" firm. Kakao Pay is also set to launch a digital non-life insurer, which will enable it to develop its own insurance policies. The company had initially sought to pair up with Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance for a joint venture, but the plan came to an end last month based on differences over business strategies.A Kakao Pay official said the comp

Jun 7, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

Reporter's notebook FSS chief losing ground?

By Kim Bo-eunYoon Suk-heun / Korea Times fileThe Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) was once regarded as the absolute authority over financial firms. As a supervisory agency, the FSS looks into financial firms' irregularities and directs them to take corrective action when deemed necessary. While the directions are not binding, firms have followed through with them voluntarily as it doesn't help to ruffle the feathers of the authority.Yet banks have been defying advice by the FSS in a recent series of cases, which is raising questions over the authority of the agency.After the incumbent FSS governor Yoon Suk-heun took office in May 2018, he has placed a top priority on protecting financial consumers.One of the cases Yoon undertook was the decade-old dispute surrounding knock-in-knock-out (KIKO) contracts.The currency-linked financial derivative products referred to as KIKO incurred over 3 trillion won in losses for local exporters at the time of the 2008 global financial crisis. The companies filed suits against banks that sold the derivative products, but the top court cleared the

Jun 7, 2020By Kim Bo-eun
[Reporter's notebook] FSS chief losing ground?

KB union protests budget phone business

BTS promotes KB Kookmin Bank's Liiv M budget phone service in this ad. / Courtesy of KB Kookmin BankBy Park Jae-hyukKB Kookmin Bank is facing backlash from its union for its recent attempt to enable customers to sign up for the Liiv M budget phone service at its bank counters, according to industry sources, Sunday.Since the lender launched the service late last year, those who wanted to sign up for the service have had to visit the Liiv M official website.Although the management, in its defense, has emphasized the necessity of face-to-face subscriptions for customers unfamiliar with digital devices, the union has claimed this will result in excessive labor for employees.Against this backdrop, the union has urged the financial authorities to regulate the bank, staging demonstrations at the office of the bank's digital business division, and in front of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Financial Supervisory Service and the house of the bank executive who directs the budget phone business.The union has alleged bank executive Yang Won-yong has forced them to sell budget phone

Jun 7, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk
KB union protests budget phone business
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