South Korea’s financial regulator Monday cleared uncertainties, allowing the Korea Development Bank to take control of a local insurer unit for the time being and buy the time to sell it off. A private equity firm jointly created by KDB and Consus Asset Management -- which controls a combined 92.73 percent of KDB Life Insurance -- reached the end of a 10-year grace period before being regulated as an insurance holding company in February. Under the Capital Markets Act, the private equity

South Korean credit card firms saw their combined net profit fall 5.3 percent in 2019 from a year earlier due mainly to increased loan-loss reserves and marketing spending, data showed Monday. The combined net profit of eight card issuers, including Shinhan Card Co., Samsung Card Co. and KB Kookmin Card Co., came to 1.64 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in 2019, compared with 1.73 trillion won in 2018, according to the data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The value of credit ca

South Korea’s activist private equity fund Korea Corporate Governance Improvement on Friday vowed to restore Hanjin Group “back on track,” signaling its push for activism despite the Friday defeat. “We could feel the shareholders' desire to change Hanjin KAL’s management by the owner family,” the coalition led by KCGI wrote in a letter to shareholders. “The most crucial is for Hanjin Group to make a breakthrough, and we believe that the only solut

Seoul-based Thelma Therapeutics said Friday it has closed a deal to buy 27 percent stake in Russian liver cancer therapy developer for 24.3 billion won ($20 million), to tap the overseas health care market. The stake was of NBT, a parent company that wholly owns radioembolization therapy device developer Bebig, both located in the Dubna Special Economic Zone on the northern outskirts of Moscow. Bebig is known for selling the therapy device called Microsphere, used to cure liver cancer -- a the

The Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday issued warnings to two major banking groups here -- Woori and Hana -- directing them to improve their overall transparency and corporate governance. The financial watchdog noted that Woori Financial Group’s board meeting minutes -- which serve as official legal records -- between January and September 2019 lacked transparency. The minutes were treated “as mere formalities” and contained few details such as the substance of

Defying YOLO image, some millennials start investing in their 20s

   Local credit card issuer KB Kookmin Card said Thursday it will launch a new leasing service of Apple devices -- from iPhones to iPads -- starting April. The company will purchase products on behalf of customers and charge them regular payments for an agreed upon period, according to the officials. The company has signed a contract with six Apple premium resellers to start the service.  “In response to the latest consumer trend of using different smart devices rather th

The Bank of Korea said Wednesday that it will release its first batch of US dollar reserves in the financial market next week in accordance with a currency swap deal with the US Federal Reserve. “Negotiations on the swap contract are still underway and we plan to start supplying US dollars next week,” BOK Deputy Gov. Ryoo Sang-dai told reporters. The US dollars will be made available in different installments, but the exact amount has yet to be confirmed, he said.  Earlier,

Chairman Sohn earns majority support despite pressure to quit over derivatives fiasco

Overseas branches of South Korean banks saw their combined net profit edge up 0.4 percent on-year to $988 million in 2019, data showed Wednesday. The figure accounted for 7.9 percent of the combined net profit of banks operating in South Korea last year, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The combined interest income at 195 overseas branches gained 9.4 percent on-year to $2.06 billion, the data showed. Their average non-performing loan ratio stood at 0.63 percen

South Korea is seeking to begin supplying US dollars under its bilateral currency swap arrangement with the United States next week, a Bank of Korea (BOK) official said Wednesday, a move that is widely expected to help ease dollar shortage caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. Negotiations are underway to finalize the currency swap deal, BOK Dep. Gov. Ryoo Sang-dai told reporters. "There are many issues that need to be discussed, but (the talks) are moving forward without any major diff

Facing a weakening local currency amid the escalating novel coronavirus crisis, companies are hedging their cross-border investment plans, including mergers and acquisitions, filings showed Tuesday. The deals denominated in foreign currency are facing increasing exchange rate pressure. as some of the investment decisions were made before the coronavirus outbreak. Over the past three weeks, South Korea’s local currency has weakened 4.6 percent against the greenback and fell 2.4 percent a

Standard Chartered Bank Korea, wholly owned by London-based Standard Chartered Bank, donated 5,000 face masks to a hospital in Daegu, which has become the epicenter of the novel coronavirus here since early last month, the bank said Monday. The masks were provided by Standard Chartered PLC via its Greater China and Northeast Asia headquarters in Hong Kong in a bid to help its Korean employees and clients, the firm said. SC Bank Korea donated the masks to Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Cen

Shinhan Financial Group said Monday that it has decided to adopt a new digital leadership system, assigning tasks of fostering different innovative technologies to the executive officers of its subsidiaries. The decision is based on Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung’s remarks during a management meeting held Wednesday, where he said “in order to achieve a successful digital transformation, harmony of strategy and culture and the digital leadership of CEOs are crucia

An investor group led by South Korean pulp product manufacturer Hankuk Paper agreed to buy a majority stake in Korea’s third-largest domestic industrial paper maker, Seha, for 55 billion won ($44.2 million) from Korean nonperforming loan manager United Asset Management Co., a filing showed Sunday. This marks the private bad bank’s first exit from a distressed buyout strategy that traces back to 2014. The consortium -- comprising Hankuk Paper and Daesung Industrial -- will acquire