Business - The Korea Times

Son to head Woori's digital committee

By Kim Bo-eunWoori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seungWoori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung is set to head the group's committee driving digitization, a ranking official said Sunday.The committee up until now has been headed by an executive in charge of digital affairs. Making the group chairman the chief of the committee means Son will be looking into the details of the group's digital drive. This signals digitization is among Woori's top priorities, along with M&As of non-banking units."Considering digitization will become more important in the post-pandemic era, the committee charged with the task will be elevated as the chairman becomes its chief," the official said.Financial firms' drive for digitization accelerated after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as mobile-based services became crucial at a time face-to-face transactions were largely limited.As part of such efforts, Woori Financial last month began an in-house mentoring program, to make executives more familiar with digital services. Under the program, employees in charge of devising digital services

May 10, 2020By Kim Bo-eun

JB overtakes DGB in Q1 earnings amid COVID-19

By Park Jae-hyukJB Financial Group has become the only provincial banking group whose net income increased in the first quarter of 2020, as both BNK and DGB financial groups suffered decreases in their net earnings due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in southeastern Korea, their regulatory filings showed Sunday.The North Jeolla Province-based JB posted a 96.5 billion won ($79 million) net income in the first quarter, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier. It overtook the Daegu-based DGB which earned 88.2 billion won, down 15 percent year-on-year.The Busan-based BNK maintained the top spot, but its net income dropped 22 percent to 137.7 billion won.JB's earnings increase is mostly attributed to JB Woori Capital, its credit loan unit whose net income rose 32.1 percent to 25.8 billion won.Its benchmark Jeonbuk and Kwangju banks posted 29.6 billion won and 46.7 billion won in net incomes, respectively, showing 13.8 percent and 3.1 percent increases from a year earlier.DGB's benchmark Daegu Bank posted a net income of 78.7 billion won, down 10.4 percent from the previous year. The group cite

May 10, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

JB overtakes DGB in Q1 earnings amid COVID-19

Kakao Bank achieves earnings surprise on contactless transactions

By Lee Min-hyungKakao Bank has surprised the market with an outstanding earnings report, as the nation's first internet-only bank dodged the coronavirus shock due to its expertise in contactless mobile transactions.The online lender reported a net profit of 18.47 billion won ($15 million) in the first three months from January 2020, a whopping rise of 181.3 percent from the previous year. This was in contrast to earnings declines from some of the major commercial lenders here, such as Woori Bank and NongHyup Bank.Most other big banks also failed to report noteworthy growth in their first-quarter net profits, hit hard by the COVID-19 shock on the local economy. But as Kakao Bank does not operate offline sales offices, the lender has minimized shock from the pandemic crisis.On top of the virus factor, Kakao Bank was able to show a different path from traditional lenders, as it succeeded in expanding its interest rate profits during the period, according to the lender.“Our loan portfolio has increased steadily, so we achieved solid growth in the interest income,” Kakao Bank

May 8, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Kakao Bank achieves earnings surprise on contactless transactions

Helping hands

NongHyup (NH) Financial Group's executives and staff employees, including Business Strategy Group Head and Deputy President Kim Hyung-shin, left, volunteered to assist agricultural households located in Hongcheon County, Gangwon Province, Thursday. The deputy president said the co-op financial group will provide necessary support for agricultural households in need. / Courtesy of NongHyup Financial Group

May 7, 2020By Anna J. Park

Visa falling behind MasterCard in Korea

By Park Jae-hyukVisa has been facing difficulties in retaking its leading status in the Korean market, since the world's largest credit card network lost its lead to MasterCard in late 2019.Data compiled by the nation's six card issuers ― Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Hyundai, Lotte, Woori and Hana cards ― showed as of the end of March, their Visa-branded cards accounted for 21.2 percent of their active cards that have been used over the past year.Their MasterCard-branded cards accounted for 25.1 percent of their active cards.The gap between Visa and MasterCard in terms of the Korean market share has widened, since the latter overtook the former in December 2019 for the first time since 1998.As of the end of last year, Visa and MasterCard occupied a respective 21.4 percent and 24.5 percent of the nation's credit card network market.The outcome is attributed to Visa's unilateral increase of commission rates for overseas payment to 1.1 percent in May 2016 from 1 percent, which led Korean card firms to pay more to their U.S. counterpart.As domestic card issuers lack global networks, they have ha

May 7, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Concerns grow over Korean banks' future prospects

Experts insist banks must comply with gov't request in crisisBy Lee Min-hyungCommercial banks here are raising their voices against what they consider “near-sighted” financial policies by the government, as the authorities demand lenders cooperate with strong sets of pump-priming measures to prop up the virus-hit economy. Officials from major Korean lenders said the government needs to take a longer-term viewpoint when devising financial policies even amid the global economic crisis sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.Even if top-tier lenders here reported relatively decent earnings in the first quarter of 2020, they may continue being exposed to concerns over their asset soundness if the government keeps introducing stimulus packages at the cost of the financial institutions, a top-ranking official from one of the nation's major commercial banks said.“Despite the better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, we still have a sense of concern due to the government's short-sighted financial policies under which lenders have to offer more loans to the self-employed and all

May 6, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Concerns grow over Korean banks' future prospects

Supporting transactions overseas

Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) CEO Bang Moon-kyu, left, and Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong hold copies of a memorandum of understanding at the Eximbank headquarters in Seoul, Wednesday. They agreed to finance Korean businesses making transactions overseas amid the slowdown in global trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic. / Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

May 6, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Shinhan, Woori eager to let go of rigid corporate ideology

By Lee Min-hyungShinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoungThe nation's financial industry is letting go of its long-lasting conservative and closed culture by bringing in outside experts to take top management positions. The so-called “pure-blood custom” ― referring to the exclusive selection of applicants from within the company ― has long been prevalent in the financial sector here. But with leaders of top-tier financial firms expressing a strong willingness to discard the convention, expectations are that more industry players will follow in an attempt to boost earnings growth amid the prolonged economic slowdown and low interest rates.Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung is particularly standing at the forefront to lead the trend by appointing experts outside of the group or its affiliates as leaders of major leadership posts.Woori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seungShinhan Investment, the securities and investment arm of the group, named Lee Young-chang as its CEO in March 2020, recognizing his expertise in the capital market despite his lack of

May 5, 2020By Lee Min-hyung

Shinhan, Woori eager to let go of rigid corporate ideology

Hyundai Card defends Korean Air card's design

The Korean Air X Hyundai Card private label credit cards / Courtesy of Hyundai CardBy Park Jae-hyukHyundai Card has defended its design of the recently launched Korean Air-branded private label credit card (PLCC) against the financial authorities' advice to change the design, according to the card firm, Monday.The Hyundai Motor Group's credit card issuing unit released the so-called Korean Air X Hyundai Card PLCC, April 27, to offer bonus airline miles and related benefits to its users.Three of the four credit cards are decorated with three-digit numbers taken after flight codes ― 030, 070 and 150 ― and the fourth type which reads “the first” caters only to Sky Pass Morning Calm members.The card, which is the first of its kind in Korea, is one of the projects that Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young has considered important.For three straight days before its launch, he promoted the new credit card on Facebook with some teaser ads.The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), however, recommended Hyundai Card to change the PLCC's design, saying it might violate the Speci

May 5, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Hyundai Card defends Korean Air card's design

Card firms capitalize on relief money

gettyimagesbankCash provided as credit points except for Citi cardsBy Park Jae-hyukCredit card companies are expected to take advantage of the emergency relief money which will be given to all 21.7 million households nationwide starting this month, while Citi has been excluded from the opportunity to attract more customers.According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Friday, 1 million won ($820) will be provided to households with four or more members, 800,000 won to three-person households, 600,000 won to two-person households and 400,000 won to single-person households, as part of the nation's efforts to cope with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.The ministry said the funding can be provided through credit and debit cards that recipients hold, not just through local governments-run gift vouchers and prepaid cards.However, the money cannot be used with Citi's credit and debit cards.“Points that can be used as cash will be loaded onto credit and debit cards,” an interior ministry official said. “Cards issued by Citi and several other card com

May 4, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk

Banking & Finance