Business - The Korea Times

Shinhan takes lead in financial data business

Shinhan Card CEO Lim Young-jin, second from right, and other participants in the opening ceremony of the Financial Data Exchange push buttons at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, Monday. Lim is in charge of Shinhan Financial Group's big data business. / CourtBy Park Jae-hyukShinhan Financial Group is getting far ahead of its rivals in the financial data business here.According to the Financial Security Institute, Thursday, the nation's largest banking group's two subsidiaries ― Shinhan Card and Shinhan Bank ― are respectively the most and the second-most popular data suppliers on the Financial Data Exchange that opened Monday.The exchange, which was established to collect quality data from the overall financial sectors and to trade value-added data, came as the National Assembly passed revisions in January to ease regulations on data usage.Since the deregulatory measures went into effect, financial data has been expected to be used in various sectors, including public institutions.Against this backdrop, Shinhan Chairman Cho Yong-byoung introduced a system under which CEOs of the group su

May 14, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Shinhan takes lead in financial data business

For digitized insurance services

Kyobo Life Planet Life Insurance CEO Lee Hak-sang, left, and KakaoPay CEO Ryu Young-joon pose at the mobile payment service provider's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. The internet-only life insurer said Wednesday the two had agreed to boost ties to pursue digital innovation in insurance services. / Courtesy of Kyobo Life Planet Life Insurance

May 13, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Co-investment on Swedish onshore wind-farm

NH-Amundi Asset Management CEO Bae Young-hoon, second from right, and Korea Western Power Co. (KOWEPO) President Kim Byeong-sook, third from right, hold an MOU for a joint investment in a Swedish onshore wind-farm project at the headquarters of the asset manager in Seoul, last Friday. The wind-farm, set to be built by late this year in Ange municipality is expected to generate stable operating profits for dozens of years to come. / Courtesy of NH-Amundi Asset Management

May 12, 2020By Anna J. Park

Co-investment on Swedish onshore wind-farm

Financial firms speed up digitization in COVID-19 world

gettyimagesbankBy Kim Bo-eunFinancial firms are stepping up efforts to get ready for an increasingly digital-oriented world following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital transformation has become a pressing task based on concerns that additional waves of infections may occur as the virus could subside temporarily.Cho Yong-byoungShinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung held a series of meetings on digitization from April 21 through April 24. The daily teleconference meetings, in which CEOs of the group's affiliates and employees took part, reviewed the plans of each unit.Digitization has long since been a key task, but the concentration of meetings last month is seen as efforts to accelerate progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Shinhan's brokerage unit began coding classes for all employees this month. Shinhan Investment said the courses are intended to develop a "digital-oriented mindset" among employees.Son Tae-seungWoori Financial Group said Chairman Son Tae-seung will head the group's committee on driving digitization. Son, taking the chief post of the committe

May 12, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

Financial firms speed up digitization in COVID-19 world

Moody's warns insurers of risks from overseas investments

gettyimagesbank By Park Jae-hyukMoody's Investors Service said in its recent report that easing regulatory limits on Korean insurers' overseas investments is credit negative.The remarks came as the National Assembly passed an amendment of the Insurance Business Act, April 29, to ease limits on Korean insurers' overseas investments.The revision, which will be effective by the end of the year, will allow insurers to invest up to 50 percent of their assets in both their general and separate accounts abroad.They have been subject to the current regulatory caps of 30 percent of their general account assets and 20 percent of their separate account assets.The life insurance industry has welcomed the passage of revisions, because they have faced falling profits amid the prolonged low-interest-rate environment here.The global credit rating agency, however, warned that increased overseas investments will raise Korean insurers' foreign-exchange and liquidity risks to credit ne

May 12, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Moody's warns insurers of risks from overseas investments

Shinhan, Woori, Mirae Asset help virus-hit Vietnam

Shinhan Bank Vietnam's main branch in Ho Chi Minh City / Courtesy of Shinhan Financial GroupBy Park Jae-hyukShinhan and Woori banks and Mirae Asset Capital have had their names added to a list of 50 financial companies that are helping their customers in Vietnam overcome difficulties from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Monday.The Vietnamese central bank recently published the list of domestic and foreign banks, and leasing companies that have made efforts to support customers affected by the coronavirus.The list included the three Korean financial services firms, along with large domestic banks ―Vietcombank, VietinBank, Agribank and BIDV ― and global financial giants ― Citibank, Standard Chartered and BNP Paribas.According to the SBV, the Southeast Asian country has suffered a growing loan balance since the outbreak of the pandemic.In response, the central bank urged both domestic and foreign banks to take measures to support virus-hit businesses and individuals. It specifically called for the banks to defer principal and interest repayments, cut

May 11, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Shinhan, Woori, Mirae Asset help virus-hit Vietnam

BNY Mellon appoints Park as Korea head

Park Hyon-jooBy Kim Bo-eunBNY Mellon said Monday it had appointed Park Hyon-joo as its country executive for Korea.Park succeeds Ji Sang-don, who will serve his term through May 31, and will report to BNY Mellon's Asia Pacific Chairman David Cruikshank.Park has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry and has held a range of leadership positions at top-tier global financial institutions."Korea is a strategic market for BNY Mellon," Cruikshank said. "With a presence in the country spanning more than 30 years, we have developed an immensely successful business servicing our institutional clients, and we continue to see opportunities to further expand our capabilities in the years ahead.""Park will be at the heart of further enhancing our growth, with the depth and breadth of her financial services experience and understanding of Korean clients' needs," he said.The New York global investments company opened its Seoul branch in 1988. It offers comprehensive financial services to the Korean institutional and wholesale market, including securities servicing, asset management,

May 11, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

Internet-only banks prepare for 3-way battle

From left are KakaoBank CEO Yun Ho-young, Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun and K bank CEO Lee Mun-hwan. / Korea Times file By Park Jae-hyukKakaoBank, Toss Bank and K bank are preparing for a fierce three-way battle to take the top spot in the nation's online banking market, as most hurdles have been cleared for them to see their earnings growth, according to industry officials, Sunday.Amid the growing popularity of contactless transactions due to the coronavirus pandemic, the three internet-only banks are drawing attention from market observers who wonder whether they could lead the paradigm shift in the country's banking industry.The business bellwether KakaoBank showed a 181.3 percent year-on-year growth in its first-quarter net income, raking in 18.5 billion won ($15.1 million) in a single quarter. Its yearly net profit was 13.7 billion won in 2019.The online lender reported 84.4 billion won in its first-quarter net interest margin, up from 54.5 billion won in th

May 11, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Internet-only banks prepare for 3-way battle

Supporting merchants

Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung, right, and Woori Bank CEO Kwon Kwang-seok, left, pose with Park Chil-bok, representative of Namdaemun Market merchants, after purchasing gift certificates at the traditional market in central Seoul, Friday. The financial group said it purchased 10 billion won worth of certificates at the market to support merchants afflicted by the COVID-19 crisis. Courtesy of Woori Financial Group

May 10, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

NH-Amundi launches youth board for innovative growth

NH-Amundi Asset Management CEO Bae Young-hoon, fifth from left, poses with seven members of the investment firm's youth board, at the company's headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of NH-Amundi Asset ManagementBy Kim Bo-eunNH-Amundi Asset Management created a youth board, as part of efforts to promote innovative growth, it said Sunday.The asset management company said the board launched Thursday is comprised of seven employees under the age of 40.The investment firm said the board was created to enable young employees to propose changes needed for the company's innovative growth, and to foster a horizontal and flexible organizational culture."We hope that the youth board members will freely make proposals the firm needs to secure a growth engine for the future, without being tied to formalities," the company's CEO Bae Young-hoon said."We will do our utmost so that the proposals can be reflected in the company's management."NH-Amundi was established in 2003, as a joint venture between NongHyup Financial Group and France's Amundi Asset Management. It has over 45 trillio