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Woori chairman determined to boost share price

By Kim Bo-eunSon Tae-seungWoori Financial Group Chairman Son Tae-seung bought back another 5,000 of Woori's shares, as part of efforts to boost the value of the stock and restore investor confidence.This is Son's third share repurchase this year. He now owns a total of 78,127 shares.This is seen as a means to bring up the price of Woori's shares by showing confidence in the value of the stock and the group's future performance.There is a significant gap between the share price of Woori and those of other major financial groups. Woori's share price was 7,900 won as of Monday's closing. KB's price was 32,550 won Shinhan 28,500 won and Hana 24,600 won. Hit by the market turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, financial group share prices hit rock bottom last month but started to show signs of recovery early this month.Boosting the stock value is the top task for Son as Woori's low share price casts uncertainties on the government's plan to sell its shares to enable the group's privatization.Currently, the state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp (KDIC) holds ownership of the banking g

Apr 14, 2020By Kim Bo-eun
Woori chairman determined to boost share price

KB gears up to retake leading financial group status

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, left, and Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung / Courtesy of each companyBy Park Jae-hyukKB Financial Group's acquisition of Prudential Life Insurance Company of Korea will cause upheavals in the entire financial industry, not only in the life insurance sector, according to market analysts, Sunday.The group said Friday it signed a contract to buy a 100 percent stake in the U.S. life insurance giant's Korean unit for 2.26 trillion won ($1.86 billion), beating out its competitors including Taiwan's Fubon Financial and three local private equity firms ― MBK Partners, Hahn & Company and IMM Private Equity.Having been able to diversify its business portfolio with the new non-banking subsidiary, KB is expected to threaten Shinhan Financial Group's leading banking group status, which it lost last year, analysts said.“Through the Prudential takeover, KB is expected to improve its status in the life insurance market, and to diversify its business portfolio, showing a rising profit in its non-banking sector,” Korea Investo

Apr 13, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk
KB gears up to retake leading financial group status

IBK to upgrade services for foreign customers

CEO plans to increase dividend payout ratioBy Kim Bo-eunYoon Jong-wonThe Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) will improve and expand services for foreign customers, its CEO Yoon Jong-won told reporters in a written interview, Sunday."The number of foreign residents is estimated to grow from 2.52 million in 2019 to 6 million in 2030, and there is a need to provide them proper financial services," Yoon said."We are planning to upgrade the existing application for foreigners so that foreign workers can access financial services, whether they are in the process of entering or leaving the country, or working here."IBK will expand the range of products and services for foreign customers, as well as languages these are offered in, the CEO said, in the interview to mark the first 100 days since he took office.Yoon also noted IBK is seeking to strengthen its foothold abroad to assist Korean SMEs there.The state-run lender aggressively expanded its overseas presence in recent years. It currently operates 58 outlets in 12 countries.Last week, IBK received approval from the financial authority in Mya

Apr 12, 2020By Kim Bo-eun
IBK to upgrade services for foreign customers

KB Kookmin Bank expands presence in Cambodia, Myanmar

KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur YinBy Park Jae-hyukKB Kookmin Bank has gained two important footholds for its continuous expansion in Southeast Asia ― Cambodia and Myanmar.The KB Financial Group's banking unit said Sunday it finished paying $603 million Friday for a 70 percent stake in Prasac Microfinance Institution, the largest microfinance deposit-taking institution in Cambodia.The recent takeover allowed KB Financial to include Prasac in its subsidiaries.KB Kookmin, which has pushed forward the Prasac takeover since its board of directors agreed on the plan in December 2019, said it will additionally acquire the remaining 30 percent stake in the Cambodian financial firm.According to the Korean bank, Prasac has around 180 networks in the Southeast Asian country, with a 41.4 percent market share and a 29.4 percent return on equity in 2018. Its net income amounted to $78 million that year.“The recent acquisition of Prasac will be a significant turning point for our bank to expand the Asian retail networks,” a KB Kookmin official said. “In the long run, we aim to become the

Apr 12, 2020By Park Jae-hyuk
KB Kookmin Bank expands presence in Cambodia, Myanmar

Brokerages reeling from COVID-19 shocks

By Anna J. ParkKorea's major securities firms are expected to suffer a significant slash in their net profits during the first quarter this year, due to the pandemic-led global economic downturn. Market analysts have lowered securities firms' Q1 net profit estimates, as considerable losses are expected from trading and investment banking (IB) departments, despite a surge in brokerage fees. According to investment information portal FnGuide, analysts' consensus estimates of the total net profits for six securities firms during the first quarter ― Korea Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Daewoo, Samsung, Meritz, NH and Kiwoom Securities ― stood at some 852 billion won ($698 million) at the end of February. Yet the net profit estimates of the six brokerage houses plunged by 52.7 percent to 402 billion won as of April 8. Analysts say one of direct causes of the fall in net profits would be sizable losses from the firms' hedge trading in equity-linked securities (ELS) or derivative-linked securities (DLS), due to falls in global indices amid market unrest caused by the global pandem

Apr 12, 2020By Anna J. Park
Brokerages reeling from COVID-19 shocks

NH Financial chief tasked with tackling COVID-19 challenges

NongHyup Financial Group Chairman Kim Gwang-soo / Courtesy of NongHyup (NH) Financial GroupKim reappointed to serve second term for one more yearBy Anna J. ParkAs NongHyup (NH) Financial Group's Chairman Kim Gwang-soo, 63, comes to serve another term, he faces a greater challenge of leading the group's growth in a difficult time of COVID-19.To weather challenges triggered by the novel coronavirus pandemic and ensure sustainable growth, he is tasked with building speed and agility in the group's two key initiatives ― digitization and globalization.The group's shareholders' meeting Friday approved Chairman Kim's consecutive term for one more year. His other term was much expected among financial pundits, as he has been leading an over 40-percent increase in the financial group's annual net profits for two consecutive years, since he took the helm in April 2018. Under Kim's leadership, the group posted an all-time high net profit of 1.77 trillion won in 2019, up 46 percent from the previous year following net profits of 1.21 trillion won ($1.05 billion) in 2018. He has also secured a so

Apr 12, 2020By Anna J. Park
NH Financial chief tasked with tackling COVID-19 challenges

Bomapp aims to disrupt insurance markets

Bomapp CEO Jay Ryu / Courtesy of BomappInsurtech firm motivates consumers to design productsBy Kim Bo-eunInsurance has been one of the industries that has mostly remained unchanged for the past century. By employing agents, insurers have sold policies to customers, many of whom signed up for unnecessary policies. This was based, to a certain extent, on exploitation of the complexity of insurance policies.Many in the industry still believe sales only takes place when this is forced upon consumers. However, insurtech firm Bomapp's CEO Jay Ryu says this is not necessarily the case."There is generally a lot of distrust in the industry of insurance, based on sales practices that have been conducted up until now," Ryu told The Korea Times in a recent interview."The existing channel through which insurance is sold has resulted in insurers basically offering the same products, making sales simply through differentiated marketing."The problems with the existing sales channel is what prompted Ryu, who worked in the insurance industry, to establish Bomapp in 2015.Ryu noted that young consumers

Apr 10, 2020By Kim Bo-eun
Bomapp aims to disrupt insurance markets

Overseas business drives Mirae Asset's growth

Mirae Asset Financial Group's Center 1 building in central Seoul / Courtesy of Mirae Asset GroupOverseas business drove Mirae Asset Financial Group's record earnings last year, the group said Wednesday.According to the group, its operating profit, pre-tax profit and net profit for 2019 stood at 1.12 trillion won, 1.64 trillion won and 1.14 trillion won, respectively. Mirae Asset said it is the first time all three have exceeded 1 trillion won.Mirae Asset's brokerage, asset management, life insurance, capital and consulting units all saw their operating profit, pretax profit and net profit grow. Mirae Asset Capital and Mirae Asset Consulting, which posted net losses up until 2018, saw a respective 165.7 billion won and 49.4 billion won in net profit last year.The group attributes growth in earnings to Chairman Park Hyeon-joo's emphasis on boosting global competitiveness.Mirae Asset made inroads into overseas markets, starting with Hong Kong in 2003. Currently the group has 40 outlets operating in 15 locations worldwide.The group's overseas subsidiaries posted 210 billion won in pre-ta

Apr 8, 2020
Overseas business drives Mirae Asset's growth
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