KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, who is likely to keep his role for another three-year term, pledged Thursday to boost the firm’s shares with a strong and versatile portfolio. “As you can see, KB’s shares have remained at a disastrous level for some time, which reflects concerns surrounding South Korea’s economy and finance coupled with doubts about traditional institutions’ competitiveness in the contactless era,” Yoon told reporters on his way to

Market Sept. 17, 2020

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo should keep his seat for a third term, the banking group’s outside directors decided Wednesday, bolstered by his bold moves in expansion of nonbanking businesses and acquisition. The group’s chairman recommendation committee, made up of KB’s seven outside directors, chose Yoon as the sole and final candidate for the next chairman role. The incumbent chief would have to gain final approval at a shareholders meeting scheduled Nov. 20 t

Market Sept. 16, 2020

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung’s idea for a government loan relief program -- in which the state would forgive and pay off interest on loans for those in the low income bracket -- was met with criticism from the banking sector. Lee recently said via Facebook that a “welfare state must take responsibility for the financial risks of ordinary citizens,” and “a welfare loan system where everyone can receive low-interest, long-term loans with the government financially

Economy Sept. 15, 2020

This is a part of a series exploring the governance structure of financial giants in South Korea and examining diversity and transparency in boardrooms. -- Ed. Shinhan Financial Group has, for many years, been distinguished from its industry peers by its biggest group of shareholders -- Korean Japanese individuals believed to hold some 15 percent stake in the firm combined. This is due to its unique beginnings, born as Shinhan Bank -- now the holding group’s flagship unit -- from an inv

Market Sept. 13, 2020

South Korea will focus on investing in digital infrastructure, including its Data Dam project, to combat future risks stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s finance minister said Friday. “Due to the novel coronavirus, our economy and society has been seeing an acceleration of digitalization,” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said, in an opening speech delivered at the Digital Economy Forum hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. &l

Economy Sept. 11, 2020

London-based Standard Chartered Bank CEO Bill Winters mentored Korean university students seeking careers in finance in an contact-free manner as part of his monthlong visit to the country, the lender’s Korean subsidiary said Thursday. Winters and 13 university students on Wednesday discussed issues related to social finance, changes in the financial environment in the post-COVID-19 era and the “fourth industrial revolution” in the program via videoconferencing, Standard Char

Market Sept. 10, 2020

K-pop duo TVXQ’s Yunho was featured in a promotional video for Shinhan Financial Group’s campaign promoting healthy lifestyles for millennials, launched Wednesday. Participants in the three-month social media campaign will receive five tasks to complete every two weeks, designed to “boost their confidence” in areas tied to hobbies, perceptions of the environment and society, talent, exercise and networking. They can then upload photos or videos on social media showing

Market Sept. 9, 2020

South Korea lost 274,000 jobs last month, continuing the downward trend for a sixth consecutive month -- the longest period since the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis -- data showed Wednesday. Hit by coronavirus woes, Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s jobless rate inched up 0.1 percentage point on-year to 3.1 percent in August and the number of unemployed surged to 27.08 million, data compiled by Statistics Korea showed. It is the most protracted downturn in employment

Economy Sept. 9, 2020

South Korea’s central bank announced Tuesday that it plans to directly purchase state bonds worth some 5 trillion won ($4.2 billion) by the end of this year to combat uncertainties stemming from the resurgence of the coronavirus here. “With the resurgence of the coronavirus leading to bigger market uncertainties, the government is expected to issue additional bonds,” the Bank of Korea said in a statement. “This is a preemptive move to alleviate risks from a possib

Economy Sept. 8, 2020

South Korea’s mandatory spending on welfare is projected to increase 40 trillion won ($33.6 billion) by 2024, amid growing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic and heavier tax burdens, a government budget proposal showed Monday. Social welfare spending would gain an average 7.6 percent annually from this year to 2024, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s four-year fiscal management plan submitted to the National Assembly. Spending for this year stood at 119.7 trilli

Economy Sept. 7, 2020

Standard Chartered Bank Korea’s incumbent CEO Park Jong-bok was recently reappointed for a third term, but the weight on his shoulders is likely to remain heavy over the lender’s localization and dividends. For Park, who will begin his third term Jan. 8, one major task is to find a balance between the lender’s identity as a foreign bank operating in South Korea amid rivalry with local banking groups. Though it is still officially called Standard Chartered Bank Korea, Park ch

Market Sept. 6, 2020

The volume of short-term floating capital in South Korea surpassed the 1,200 trillion won ($900 billion) mark, as the government seeks to funnel the liquidity into a 20 trillion fund tied to the Korean New Deal package, data showed Sunday. The amount of cash and other short-term capital totaled 1,273.6 trillion won as of end-June, data compiled by the Bank of Korea and the Korea Financial Investment Association showed. By asset, the M1 money supply, which is essentially cash, came to 1058.1 t

Economy Sept. 6, 2020

It might take longer than expected for South Korea’s manufacturing productivity to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, even if exports recover, the central bank said Thursday. “It has been found that a slowdown in manufacturing productivity is tied to a drop in exports, but we were unable to find a relationship between growth in exports and short-term improvement in manufacturing,” the Bank of Korea said in its regular economic report. “Even if the global economy recovers,

Economy Sept. 3, 2020

In light of growing concerns about the nation’s fiscal soundness amid the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea should take a leaf from Germany’s debt-brake law to stabilize its debt ratio, a think tank here said Wednesday. Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio has so far shown moderate growth, but it could surge rapidly under the current circumstances, a report released by the Korea Economic Research Institute said. The debt-to-GDP ratio wa

Economy Sept. 2, 2020

South Korea’s central bank said Wednesday it has launched research into adopting artificial intelligence deep learning to extract economic growth forecasts, amid growing uncertainties stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The Bank of Korea expressed anticipations of predicting the nation’s gross domestic product readings and other key economic indexes by utilizing deep learning, which is a subset of AI technology, in its regular economic report. The research is still in its early

Economy Sept. 2, 2020