Woori Bank wins approval for setting up representative office in Poland

Woori Bank, a major South Korean lender, said Tuesday that it has won approval from the Polish financial regulatory authority to set up a representative office in the eastern European country.Woori Bank said it will open its representative office in the southwestern city of Katowice later this month as part of its efforts to establish a bridgehead in Europe. (Yonhap)The representative office is located near an industrial complex, which is home to assembly lines of Samsung Electronics Co., Hyunda

Jan. 24, 2017

Average starting salary of public finance workers nears W40m

The average starting salary of employees of public financial firms has reached nearly 40 million won ($34,000), data showed Tuesday.On average, recruits of 11 financial firms under the control of the government earned 39.85 million won a year as of 2015, according to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service, South Korea's financial watchdog. (Yonhap)The state-run Korea Development Bank took the top spot, with the average starting salary for a new recruit standing at 46.54 million won.T

Jan. 24, 2017

Larger-denominated banknotes gain wider circulation

The use of 50,000 won ($42.85) denominated banknotes has become more widespread, replacing smaller 10,000 won bills, central bank data showed Tuesday.According to the Bank of Korea, the circulation of 10,000 won banknotes at the end of last year was 16.24 trillion won, 5.7 percent less than the year before and the smallest since 1998. (Yonhap)Circulation is measured by the total value of banknotes issued minus the amount that has been retrieved by the central bank.  Circulation of 10,000 won bil

Jan. 24, 2017

Asset-backed securities issuance falls 27% in 2016

The issuance of asset-backed securities in South Korea dropped sharply last year, affected by the government's policy measure to slow the growth of household debt, data showed Tuesday.The amount of ABS issued in 2016 totaled 60.7 trillion won ($52.2 billion), down 26.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. (Yonhap)The decline came as the state-funded Korea Housing Finance Corp. scaled down its issuance of mortgage-backed securities by 36.7 percent on-year t

Jan. 24, 2017

EXIM Bank to reduce total funding to W67tr in 2017

The Export-Import Bank of Korea will reduce total corporate funding this year but enhance support for prospective firms and small and medium-sized enterprises to help revive the local economy, the bank’s chief told reporters Monday. The government-owned bank will allocate 67 trillion won ($57 billion) in credit for companies this year, of which 53 trillion won will go to loans and 14 trillion won to guarantees, said Lee Duk-hoon, chairman and president of the bank. The budget is 11 perc

Jan. 23, 2017

Woori Bank narrows CEO candidates to three

Woori Bank announced it has narrowed down CEO candidates from six to three and plans to pick the final candidate Wednesday.The bank’s executive recommendation committee, consisting of outside directors, has chosen three candidates: current CEO Lee Kwang-goo; Lee Dong-gun, executive vice president and head of the business support group; and Kim Seung-gyu, former vice president of the management support unit at the bank. From left: Lee Kwang-goo, Lee Dong-gun and Kim Seung-gyu (Woori Bank)The thre

Jan. 23, 2017

Regulator expects digital banks to reform banking services

South Korea's banking industry will go through upheaval with the introduction of online-only banks, a senior financial regulator said Monday.A couple of banks specializing in Internet banking services -- Kakao Bank and K-Bank -- plan to begin operations in the coming months. An image of South Korea's two planned online-only banks provided by Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)"Consumers expect price competitiveness and new services they have not enjoyed so far," said Jeong Eun-bo, vice chairman of the Finan

Jan. 23, 2017

Korea, Hong Kong agree to share financial info

South Korea and Hong Kong on Monday agreed to share the financial data of their residents in each country in a bid to prevent offshore tax evasion, the finance ministry here said.Under the deal between the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Hong Kong's tax authorities, they will exchange lists on financial information every year, including bank accounts, balances and interest income, of each other's nationals living in each other's countries starting from 2019. (Yonhap)Hong Kong is one of the

Jan. 23, 2017

Troubled conglomerates refuse workout as creditors become passive

Conglomerates in financial trouble are refusing debt workouts, even when facing penalty, partly from passive creditor banks who do not want to provide bailout money, regulators said Monday.A report submitted to Rep. Park Yong-jin by the Financial Supervisory Service said five conglomerates requested a workout last year when there were 11 firms whose annual credit ratings showed they needed debt rearrangements. (Yonhap)Despite the government's stated drive from early in the year to go after poorl

Jan. 23, 2017

[Herald Interview] Garosu-gil properties expect 5% returns this year

Seoul’s commercial leasing market is highly likely to be affected by the expected US interest rate hikes and weakening of the Korean won this year. But Richard Hwang, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield Korea, a global consulting agency on real estate investment, is still optimistic about high returns of investments in Garosu-gil, southern Seoul, one of the most faddish commercial districts in the city. “While most Korean investors view investing in Garosu-gil as having come to an end, the

Jan. 22, 2017

Korea to sell W7.5t worth of state bonds in Feb.

South Korea plans to sell 7.5 trillion won ($6.4 billion) worth of state bonds next month, the finance ministry said Friday.The government will issue 1.7 trillion won worth of bonds with a maturity of three years and 1.65 trillion won worth of five-year bonds. (Yonhap)It also plans to sell 1.95 trillion won worth of 10-year Treasurys and a combined 2.2 trillion won of bonds with a maturity of between 20 and 30 years.For March, it has a plan to issue a combined 8 trillion won worth of state bonds

Jan. 20, 2017

[NEWS FOCUS] Challenges ahead for new chief of Shinhan Financial

Shinhan Bank CEO Cho Yong-byoung, who was nominated as new chairman of Shinhan Financial Group Thursday, faces mounting challenges including retaining the No. 1 post in the fiercely competitive local financial industry.When the second term of current Chairman and CEO Han Dong-woo expires in March, Cho will take up the three-year post once he gets approval at the general shareholders meeting in March. The term can be renewed one time.  Shinhan Bank CEO Cho Yong-byoung. (Shinhan Financial Group)Ch

Jan. 20, 2017

Deutsche Bank ordered to compensate investors for stock manipulation in class action suit

A lower court ordered Deutsche Bank on Friday to compensate investors for damage it caused by manipulating stock prices, in the nation's first-ever ruling on a class action suit.The Seoul Central District Court ordered the Germany-based financial services company to pay a total of 8.55 billion won ($7.28 million) to six plaintiffs who invested in local equity-linked securities products in 2007. (Deutsche Bank)An ELS is structured to link yields to the performance of underlying assets, such as in

Jan. 20, 2017

Listed companies' name changes on rise

The number of companies that has changed their names has steadily increased in recent years as some of them sought to improve their corporate images, data showed Friday.Data compiled by the Korea Securities Depository showed that 99 companies -- 19 on the main bourse KOSPI and 80 on the tech-savvy KOSDAQ market -- changed their names in 2016, compared with 67 in 2013.The Korea Securities Depository said 52.5 percent of the companies changed their names to improve their images. Other reasons behi

Jan. 20, 2017

Basic materials sector gets boost from Trump expectations

Stock funds invested in basic materials and healthcare are showing promising profits so far this year on expectations of a market boom after new US President Donald Trump takes office, data showed Friday.Fund rating company KG Zeroin said the profit rate for basic materials sector funds ranked at the top with 6.71 percent, followed by healthcare-related funds at 4.76 percent. The company surveyed local and foreign stock funds with more than 1 billion won ($848,896) operated for at least two week

Jan. 20, 2017

Investors fleeing stock-invested funds on chronic low profit

Stock-invested funds have lost their luster, their size now less than half of what they used to be 10 years ago as their unattractive profit showings shed investors, finance industry data indicated Friday.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, money in local stock-invested funds totaled 73.69 trillion won ($62.55 billion) at the end of last year, or 15.7 percent of total funds summed at 469.31 trillion won. On a year-end tally basis, the ratio is the lowest in 11 years.The prop

Jan. 20, 2017

Shinhan Bank CEO nominated new chairman of Shinhan Financial

South Korea’s largest financial institution Shinhan Financial Group said it has selected Shinhan Bank CEO Cho Yong-byoung as the final candidate to be the next chairman of the group. Shinhan Bank CEO Cho Yong-byoung. (Shinhan Financial Group)Cho was unanimously chosen by the seven members of the corporate governance and CEO recommendation committee among the three candidates, the group said in a statement. The other two candidates were Wi Sung-ho, the CEO of Shinhan Card, and Choi Bang-gil, the

Jan. 19, 2017

Korea's derivatives market in protracted slump

South Korea's derivatives market shows no signs of bouncing back, data showed Thursday, amid criticism that strict regulations continue to damp investors' appetite.The country once boasted the world's largest derivatives market, but it has suffered a sharp decline in trading over the past several years. An image of derivatives trading in a file photo provided by Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)The daily average trading volume of stock index futures totaled 17 trillion won ($14.4 billion) last year, down

Jan. 19, 2017

MMFs absorb over 21 tln won this year

Investors here are increasingly shifting their money to short-term investment vehicles amid lingering uncertainties ahead of the launch of the new US administration and further interest rate rises in the world's largest economy, data showed Thursday.Money market funds in South Korea posted net inflows of 21.1 trillion won ($17.8 billion) this year, according to market tracker FnGuide. This undated file photo shows a Seoul bank official counting banknotes. (Yonhap)It marks a contrast to the 1.6 t

Jan. 19, 2017

‘Banks should question their purpose of existence’

Pressured by the imminent intrusion of internet-only banks and financial technology startups, Korea’s local lenders should ask themselves whether they will be able to keep existing, the head of an association of banks said Wednesday.“The local banking industry’s net interest margins constantly declined last year and their profitability remains at the world’s lowest levels,” Ha Yung-ku, chairman of the Korea Federation of Banks, said at a press conference with five financial institutions -- the K

Jan. 18, 2017