An independent watchdog aimed at strengthening the rights of financial consumers will be set up during the first half of 2012, after a decision by the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday.At the nine-member panel discussion, the FSC decided to spin off the department in charge of consumer protection from the Financial Supervisory Service, an executive arm of the FSC.FSS Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se, who took his office as the top regulator in March, finalized the move for a larger consumer protectio

Nov. 16, 2011

Lawmakers mount calls for reactivation of plan to sell government-held stakeFinancial authorities are expected to come up with a new plan soon to privatize state-owned Woori Financial Group as calls from politicians for resumption of the stalled sale plan are mounting, sources said Tuesday.Last week, some members of the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly called for Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the biggest shareholder of Woori Financial, to draw up a new plan to sell most of its

Nov. 15, 2011

Financial regulators’ planned action against Lone Star Funds is expected to affect the fate of Kim Seung-yu, chairman of Hana Financial Group striving to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from the U.S.-based equity fund.Early this year, group board members allowed Kim, who secured the post of Hana Bank CEO and Hana Financial chairman in 1997, to extend his term for the top post by one more year until March 2012.The board members’ endorsement for Kim’s tenure extension was attributable to necessity of

Nov. 14, 2011

Samsung, Hyundai, Shinhan in campaign to attract more customersCredit card companies are fighting another marketing war despite financial regulators’ warnings against signing up too many customers.The industry’s big three ― Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card and Samsung Card ― have taken the initiative in the issuance competition. Other companies, such as KB Kookmin, Lotte and Hana-SK, are set to follow the move. In particular, Samsung Card, the third-largest issuer, has been aggressive in developing ne

Nov. 13, 2011

SK Telecom submitted its application to take over Hynix Semiconductor, owned by creditors, as a sole bidder on Thursday.Credit Suisse, one of the co-sale brokers for the deal, received the bid to acquire a 15 percent stake in Hynix from SKT, said officials at Korea Exchange Bank, the main creditor.SKT tendered the last minute application just before the 5:00 p.m. deadline after hours of heated in-house debate over whether to bid amid turmoil following the prosecution’s probe of the SK Group chai

Nov. 10, 2011

KEB union files injunction with Constitutional Court to ban regulator’s actionUnionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank, owned by Lone Star, filed an injunction with the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to ban the Financial Services Commission from ordering the U.S.-based fund to dispose of its KEB shares without probing the fund’s shareholder eligibility.If the Constitutional Court accepts the request from the KEB union, the FSC cannot instruct Lone Star to do so for the time being. The financial

Nov. 8, 2011

About 5,000 unionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank are scheduled to hold a day-long rally in Yeouido, Seoul on Tuesday, demanding the financial regulator take punitive action against Lone Star Funds.Their planned gathering has been regarded as a strike amid the situation under which Lone Star, convicted of manipulating stocks of KEB’s credit affiliate, may leave the country with huge gains.The KEB union is also criticizing the Financial Services Commission for having been negligent in probing

Nov. 7, 2011

About 5,000 unionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank are scheduled to hold a day-long rally in Yeouido, Seoul on Tuesday, demanding financial regulators take punitive action against Lone Star Funds.Their planned gathering has been regarded as a strike amid the situation under which Lone Star, convicted of manipulating stocks of KEB’s credit affiliate, may leave the country with huge gains.The KEB union is also criticizing the Financial Services Commission for having been negligent in probing sha

Nov. 7, 2011

GM Korea launched its sales of the Malibu, a midsize sedan of Chevrolet series, in the local market a week ago.Though the company is pinning hope on the Malibu for its goal to grab more than 10 percent of the Korean market, data showed that the sedan fell behind the similar sedans of major competitors in terms of fuel efficiency, engine performance and price competitiveness.According to each company’s data for sales at dealerships, the gasoline-fueled Malibu with an engine capacity of 2.0 liters

Mobility Nov. 7, 2011

Hyundai Motor has been closely competing with Toyota Motor to become No. 1 in automobile sales in Africa, posting about 60 percent in growth since to the beginning of the year.The company saw its sales in Africa reach 16,011 units in October, compared with 10,051 units in January.Hyundai has ranked second with a 12.8 percent share of the African market while Toyota captured 14.7 percent of the market.Hyundai has surpassed Toyota in the five major countries ― Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Angola and t

Mobility Nov. 6, 2011