Business - The Korea Times

Special lecture on capital market

NH Investment & Securities CEO Jeong Young-chae delivers a special lecture on the role of the financial investment industry in the sustainable growth of companies, at Yeouido High School in Seoul, Friday. He focused the two-hour lecture on explaining the strategic partnership between the capital market and companies. Courtesy of Korea Financial Investment Associate

Nov 22, 2019By Lee Min-hyung

Helping startups

KEB Hana Bank CEO Ji Sung-kyoo, front row fourth from left, poses with officials from Korea Growth Investment Corp. (K-Growth), and heads of startups at the bank headquarters in Seoul, Nov. 20, after participating in an opening ceremony for the ninth 1Q Agile Lab, a bank-organized global innovative business model development program launched in June 2015. Courtesy of KEB Hana Bank

Nov 21, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

Ageing banks urged to cut costs

Lenders should revamp business modelsBy Park Jae-hyukKorea's major commercial banks are enjoying solid earnings this year but experts say they face a deeply uncertain future as they are failing to reduce costs amid the onset of falling profits. They warn that unless the banks revamp their business models and carry out reorganization to brace for digitization, it is likely that some of them will be crowded out of the market in the near future.For the first three quarters of 2019, the nation's top four lenders ― Shinhan, KB Kookmin, KEB Hana and Woori ― collectively posted a 7.09 trillion won ($6 billion) net profit, a 7.6 percent decline from a year earlier and moving to a downward trend for the first time since 2015.In addition, the financial authorities decided to prohibit them from offering investment opportunities in high-risk private equity funds, which had made up half of their non-interest income.Unfavorable factors also include tightened regulations on loan to deposit ratios and competition with fintech firms, some of which are seeking to obtain licenses to become internet-onl

Nov 21, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Shinhan Bank Vietnam wins PM award

Shin Dong-min, head of Shinhan Bank Vietnam, third from right, poses with officials from the bank and the Vietnamese government, after receiving a merit certificate from the country's prime minister at the lender's office in Ho Chi Minh City, Wednesday. Shinhan Bank was recognized for its decades-long contribution to the economy there since it entered the market in 1993. Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Nov 21, 2019By Lee Min-hyung

Kakao Bank to be under Kakao's control Friday

A man passes by the Kakao Bank's head office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in this July 2017 file photo. / YonhapBy Park Jae-hyukKakao, the operator of the nation's most widely used messenger app KakaoTalk, will be the largest shareholder of Kakao Bank starting Friday, as the financial regulator has allowed Korea Investment Holdings (KIH) to unload its stake in the internet-only bank.The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Wednesday it decided to allow KIH to sell its 29 percent stake in Kakao Bank to its subsidiary, Korea Investment Value Asset Management, for 489.5 billion won ($418 million).KIH announced the planned disposal a day earlier, premised on the FSC's approval.“We will also sell some of our stake in Kakao Bank to Kakao and YES24 the same day, so as to exclude Kakao Bank from our list of subsidiaries,” the firm said in a statement.“According to the Financial Holding Companies Act, financial holding companies are banned from holding over a 5 percent stake in non-subsidiary companies, so we decided to sell our stake in Kakao Bank to Korea Investment

Nov 20, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Kakao Bank to be under Kakao's control Friday

Helping small IT firms

KB Kookmin Bank SME/SOHO Customer Group Senior Managing Director Shin Deok-soon, right, and JC Hyun System CEO Cha Joong-seok hold a signed memorandum of understanding at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Aug. 6. Under the agreement, KB will help finance SMEs that use the IT marketing firm's supply chain. Courtesy of KB Kookmin Bank

Nov 20, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

IBK CEO Kim's most important goal reached

Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Kim Do-jinBy Lee Kyung-min When Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) CEO Kim Do-jin took office in December 2016, he vowed to visit all the branches across the country. Now about a month away from the end of his term, he has delivered on his pledge.He has visited a combined 691 domestic and overseas branches and met 12,478 workers. Of 57 overseas branches, the last one was in Hong Kong, which Kim visited Nov. 14, (local time), in a brief stop on his way to China. This means he took a business trip to rural regions at least twice a week, except when he had to attend events overseas. On some occasions, he visited 11 branches in a single day.Branches in regions reeling from unfortunate circumstances were the first Kim went to. For example, he visited Daejeon, after the region was hit by Typhoon Soulik in August 2018.Driven by personal conviction that the leader should care for those in need, he pushed with a pre-set schedule to visit nine branches in the city. Many workers especially in remote areas feel deeply moved that he took an hours-long trip just to see the

Nov 20, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

IBK CEO Kim's most important goal reached

Mirae Asset under antitrust probe

The Mirae Asset Financial Group headquarters building in Seoul / Courtesy of Mirae Asset Financial GroupBy Park Jae-hyukMirae Asset Financial Group has been under antitrust investigation over an allegation that it offered unfair profits to the chairman's family, according to industry officials, Tuesday.The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it notified Mirae Asset of possible sanctions it could face.The antitrust watchdog will convene a meeting early next year at the earliest, to make a final decision on sanctions against the financial services group.Although the FTC declined to comment in detail, it is considering referring the corporate body of Mirae Asset and Chairman Park Hyeon-joo to prosecutors, according to sources.Since the Financial Supervisory Service asked the FTC in December 2017 to investigate Mirae Asset for its alleged intra-group transactions aimed at offering unfair profits to the chairman's family, the antitrust watchdog has zeroed in on Mirae Asset Consulting, the group's holding company which is virtually owned by Park and his family members.According to Mirae Asset

Nov 20, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Open banking for foreigners

A Shinhan Bank employee promotes the SOL Global mobile banking app at the bank's main branch in Seoul, Tuesday. Shinhan said the new app allows foreign customers to use open banking and various other financial services in 12 different languages. / Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Nov 20, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Banks boost strategic alliance with fintechs overseas

By Lee Kyung-min Leading commercial banks are forging partnerships with fintechs overseas to foster localization and digitization, industry officials said Wednesday. The collective move from Korean lenders seeks to land a greater number of new customers via easy-to-use mobile platforms developed by fintech startups, key business partners in countries with higher growth potential compared to the saturated domestic market. KEB Hana Bank has drawn 100,000 customers who borrowed a combined 100 million yuan (17 billion won) via a platform operated by Ant Financial, a fintech affiliate of Alibaba, China's e-commerce giant. This is in line with the bank's objective to offer financial services to 1 billion users of Alipay, Alibaba's payment platform, including taking out small, short-term loans. “Landing the new 100,000 customers in China only four months after we teamed up with Ant Financial is quite a pleasant surprise. We think the joint project will also help us to use Alipay user consumption pattern analysis data in assessing credit risks and develop more financial products that b

Nov 19, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

Banking & Finance

Banking & Finance

Special lecture on capital market

Helping startups

Ageing banks urged to cut costs

Shinhan Bank Vietnam wins PM award

Kakao Bank to be under Kakao's control Friday

Helping small IT firms

IBK CEO Kim's most important goal reached

Mirae Asset under antitrust probe

Open banking for foreigners

Banks boost strategic alliance with fintechs overseas

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