Business - The Korea Times

Banks fix eyes on auto loan market

KEB Hana Bank sales division director Lee Jang-sung, right, holds an MOU with used car trading platform app Car Auction CEO Jang Young-soo at the bank's head branch in Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of KEB Hana BankBy Jhoo Dong-chan The nation's commercial banks are introducing a series of auto loan products with lower interest rates. Auto loans used to be an exclusive financial product for capital firms, but now lenders have joined the industry as part of efforts to diversify their business portfolio.KEB Hana Bank said it signed an MOU with used car trading app Car Auction, Tuesday. This was the first time for a commercial bank to stretch its portfolio into the auto loan business for secondhand cars. Apart from its partnership with the used car trading app, KEB Hana features the 1Q Auto Loan with a minimum 3.6 percent interest rate.Shinhan Bank is promoting its My Car auto loan through sponsoring the Korea Baseball Organization this year. The My Car auto loan carries a minimum 3.2 percent interest rate.Woori Bank recently rolled out the Woori Dream Car loan, offering a prime rate for cu

Jul 18, 2019By Jhoo Dong-chan

IBK, Woori expect hefty returns from investment into 'Parasite'

A movie poster of ParasiteBy Lee Kyung-min Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) are expecting hefty returns from their investment in the Korean film “Parasite,” this year's Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival. Their non-traditional investment method in local movie productions is emerging as a great way for banks to generate profit amid growing pressure to reduce their heavy dependence on net interest margins (NIM).Woori and the state-run IBK made an indirect investment of 300 million won ($254,000) and 120 million won, respectively, in the movie, through investment vehicles. Given the break-even point is estimated at 4 million viewers, the two lenders are set to enjoy high returns given the film has drawn over 10 million viewers as of July 21. The IBK is well known for having the Midas touch in the film industry, as it has enjoyed a series of successes with its investments in domestic films. Its successful investment portfolio includes “Extreme Job” a mega-hit that attracted over 13 million people to theaters, a resounding success given

Jul 18, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

IBK, Woori expect hefty returns from investment into 'Parasite'

Lotte Card expanding presence in Vietnam

Lotte Card CEO Kim Chang-kwon, fourth from left, poses with officials from Vietnam's central bank, during the opening ceremony of Lotte Finance at Lotte Hotel Hanoi in this June 25 file photo. / Courtesy of Lotte Card By Park Jae-hyukLotte Card has sought to strengthen its foothold in Vietnam by making mass investments in its subsidiary there, to take advantage of the Southeast Asian country's fast-growing consumer finance market.According to its latest regulatory filings posted on the Credit Finance Association's website, the company extended credit worth $72 million to Lotte Finance Vietnam, June 24. Lotte Finance Vietnam is Lotte Card's Vietnamese operation that was launched in December.The regulatory filings showed that the purpose of the credit extension was to guarantee payment of the local subsidiary's debts.As the parent company having high credit rating stands surety for the subsidiary, Lotte Finance Vietnam, which needs more money for its business expansio

Jul 18, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Lotte Card expanding presence in Vietnam

Toss grows but suffers ballooning losses

By Kim Bo-eunFintech startup Viva Republica, operator of financial services platform Toss, is growing fast. Toss has 13 million customers and continues to expand the range of its services. Yet its losses continue to grow, and its business model appears to have limitations in long-term growth.Starting with mobile money transfers in 2015, Toss has now become a mobile finance services platform valued at over $1.2 billion, offering over 40 types of services. It grew rapidly as it offered money transfer services that streamlined the ID verification process.The amount of monthly transfers has reached 4 trillion won ($3.4 billion), and the accumulated amount of transfers reaches 49 trillion won. Viva Republica became Korea's first fintech unicorn in December, after receiving $80 million in investment from investors including Silicon Valley-based venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins and Ribbit Capital. It also received investment from U.S. global payment system company PayPal.Toss users can check the balance and transaction history of the bank accounts they own, make savings and installment

Jul 18, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Toss grows but suffers ballooning losses

Customs Border Control Training Institute gets first female chief

By Kim Bo-eunCho Eun-jungThe Customs Border Control Training Institute (CBCTI) appointed its first female chief, Cho Eun-jung, Monday. Cho, 57, is the 14th director general of the institute affiliated with the Korea Customs Service.She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in home economics and a doctoral degree in consumer studies from Seoul National University. She headed the Samsung Institute of Global Marketing and served as an executive of Samsung Electronics' Global B2B Center and its printing business division.CBCTI was established in 1977 as a training agency for customs personnel. It also trains detection dogs. CBCTI was recognized for its excellence as a training institute for government officials for nine consecutive years.Since 2009, the institute has run various training courses for capacity-building of customs officials from around the world. In 2010, the institute was designated as the World Customs Organization's training center for the Asia-Pacific region.It has transferred its customs administration know-how to 1,613 officials from institutes of 112 countries

Jul 18, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Customs Border Control Training Institute gets first female chief

Boosting ties with Indonesia

Officials from Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) and its Indonesian counterpart Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corp. (IDIC) pose at IDIC headquarter in Jakarta, July 10. The IDIC officials attened a KDIC-organized consulting session there to learn about Korea's deposit insurance payment system. Third from left is IDIC Chairman Halim Alamsyah. Courtesy of KDIC 

Jul 17, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

Korea's best bank

Shinhan Bank's Hong Kong branch head Yeom Mun-cheol, center, poses with officials from Euromoney magazine during the Award for Excellence Asia 2019 event at JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong, Tuesday. The magazine publisher selected the bank as Korea's best bank for its high profitability and innovativeness. / Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Jul 17, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Kyobo Life gears up to start platform business

By Kim Bo-eunKyobo Life Insurance's building in central Seoul / Courtesy of Kyobo Life InsuranceKyobo Life Insurance has begun working with startups to expand its services into healthcare and ultimately create a platform offering various services, the insurer said Wednesday.The move comes as financial authorities pledged earlier this month to allow insurers to expand their businesses into the healthcare sector.Kyobo said that it has selected five startups and is set to select five more next month to come up with a business model offering healthcare services by the end of this year.The insurer plans to start with offering services such as one that aids dental care through smart toothbrushes or a service that analyzes and helps improve eating habits through big data-based food recognition functions.Kyobo will cover program development costs for the selected startups, and provide an open API.The insurer plans to launch two or three new projects through its healthcare app next year.In the long-term, Kyobo plans to launch a platform where it offers various healthcare and finance services.

Jul 17, 2019By Kim Bo-eun

Kyobo Life gears up to start platform business

Supporting IT students

Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong, second from left in fourth row, poses with students from 10 high schools specializing in information technology, during a ceremony at the bank's main office in Seoul, Monday. The ceremony was held to celebrate cooperation between the bank and the schools. / Courtesy of Shinhan Bank

Jul 16, 2019By Park Jae-hyuk

Banks rush to adopt 'open banking'

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min Banks are rushing to embrace “open banking,” a new financial data management and operating system that will go into effect in October, in order to get the upper hand in the rapidly-developing area. Open banking is a comprehensive joint payment system based on an application programming interface (API), an intermediary program that enables various software to interact.Under the new system, fintech firms will get broader access to financial data, and customers will be able to transfer cash using any app operated by any banks or fintech firms.?Given fintechs will provide far greater services in user interface (UI) and user experience (UX), traditional market players ― mostly banks ― are under growing threat of being reduced to a mere developer and seller of financial products. UX focuses on how something works and how people interact with it, and UI on the look and layout. Woori Bank has included key open banking functions into WiBee Bank, its online platform which will be strengthened as a comprehensive marketing and distributing channel of n

Jul 16, 2019By Lee Kyung-min

Banking & Finance