Articles by Jung Min-kyung
Jung Min-kyung
mkjung@heraldcorp.com-
[Newsmaker] Hana Financial Group joins $2.6b bid to buy Chelsea FC
South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has recently submitted a bid of $2.6 billion to buy Premier football club Chelsea, in a consortium led by UK property magnate Nick Candy. Local reports on Saturday said that the consortium of Candy, Hana Financial Group and Korean sports management firm C&P Sports -- dubbed “The Blue Football Consortium” -- have become one of several bidders who expressed their interest in buying Chelsea from its current Russian owner Roman Abramovich by
Market March 20, 2022
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Average pay at Korea's top 4 banks exceeds W100m for first time
The average annual salary at South Korea’s top four banks exceeded 100 million won ($82,500) for the first time last year, backed by a surge in interest and fee revenue, data showed Sunday. Bankers under the four commercial banks here -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori -- received an average 105.5 million won last year, 7.6 percent up from the previous year, according to their annual reports. The figure includes the employees’ base salary, performance pay and bonuses. The aver
Market March 20, 2022
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More Koreans end marriage at older age: data
More South Koreans are choosing to divorce at an older age, government data showed Thursday, with divorce rates among people 60 and older increasing as the nation rapidly approaches a super-aged society. The average age for males and females going through divorce here both rose 0.8 year on-year to 50.1 and 46.8, respectively, last year, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea. In the last decade, the average age for males rose 4.7 years, while the age for females rose 5.2 years. While
Economy March 17, 2022
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Young Koreans eye Yoon‘s W100m savings account scheme
Young South Koreans are anticipating the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s version of its state-backed savings account, with a goal of helping investors accrue 100 million won ($80,500). The state-backed savings account would allow South Korean residents aged between 19 and 34 to subscribe and submit a monthly payment of a maximum 700,000 won for a 10-year term, with an annual yield of 3.5 percent, a booklet of Yoon’s presidential pledges published by the People Power Party sh
Market March 15, 2022
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Court finds Hana chairman nominee responsible for derivatives misselling
A Seoul court on Monday found Hana Financial Group Chairman-nominee Ham Young-joo responsible for Hana Bank’s improper sales of derivatives-linked products that caused a fiasco in 2019 after investors saw huge losses. Defying market expectations, the Seoul Administrative Court found the chairman-nominee and then-Hana Bank CEO guilty of failing to appropriately supervise the bank’s misselling of troubled products to its consumers. The court nodded to the financial authorities&rsquo
Market March 14, 2022
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NongHyup gets preliminary approval to operate in Noida, India
South Korea’s NongHyup Bank has received preliminary approval from India’s financial authorities to establish a branch in the South Asian nation’s planned industrial city of Noida. If the branch is established, it will mark NongHyup’s second business entity in India, after its New Delhi office opened in 2016. The move to open a branch in Noida is part of NongHyup’s plan to have more than 14 business entities in 12 nations across the world by 2025. It opened a bran
Market March 14, 2022
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Legal hurdle cleared for Hana vice chief to seek chairmanship
Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of exercising his influence on a hiring request at Hana Bank when he was the CEO of the lender in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial that kicked off in June 2018 when the prosec
Market March 13, 2022
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Legal hurdle cleared for Hana vice chief to seek chairmanship
Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of receiving favors in exchange for getting his friend’s son hired at Hana Bank, when he was CEO in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial which kicked off in June 2018 when
Market March 11, 2022
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Banks concerned over Yoon's pledge to move headquarters out of Seoul
South Korea’s large financial companies are in agony over President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s election pledge to relocate several bank headquarters outside Seoul. In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s presidential election, then-conservative candidate Yoon made a pledge in both January and earlier this month to relocate the state-run Korea Development Bank to the nation’s southern port city of Busan. He added at a campaign rally in Busan last week that he would make effort
Market March 10, 2022
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Korean households, businesses face bigger default risks than previous crises: BOK
South Korean households and businesses are at a bigger risk of default compared with previous financial crises, with the pandemic having driven up the pace of borrowing gain, the central bank warned Wednesday. The nation’s real credit gap rate -- the difference between the desired and actual levels of debt for households and businesses -- came to 5.1 percent as of the end of September last year, a Bank of Korea report showed. This surpasses the corresponding figures for the credit card
Economy March 9, 2022
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S. Korean stocks tumble, currency weakens as oil prices surge
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi and the Korean won tumbled on Tuesday, with surging oil prices triggered by the US-led ban on Russian crude threatening to fuel the intensifying inflationary pressure here. The main bourse Kospi settled 1.09 percent down from the previous session at 2,622.4, falling for the third consecutive day. Foreigners offloaded a net 472.8 billion won ($382.2 million) worth of shares, while institutions sold a net 293 billion won. Retail investors bought a net 732 bi
Market March 8, 2022
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Kospi drops 2%, Samsung shares rattled
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi fell some 2 percent on Monday, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics dropping below the 70,000 won-mark ($57.03) at one point, rattled by the escalating war in Ukraine and surging oil prices. The value of the Korean won weakened against the US greenback, with the local currency surpassing the 1,220 won-mark against the dollar for the first time since June 2, 2020. It closed 12.9 won higher against the dollar from the previous session at 1,227.1 won. The
Market March 7, 2022
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Hana chief highest-paid banking CEO in 2021
Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai was the highest-paid banking CEO last year, taking home an annual salary of 2.4 billion won ($1.98 million), according to annual reports filed by financial firms Sunday. Kim ranked No. 1 in annual salary paid to executives among his peers, with KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo ranking No. 2 with 1.7 billion won and Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung No. 3 with 800 million won. Woori Financial Group has yet to file a similar r
Market March 6, 2022
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Retail investors rush for Russia ETFs despite warnings
South Korean retail investors have been on a buying spree of Russia-related exchange-traded funds amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, data showed Sunday. Analysts say that retail investors are hoping for a rebound in Russian stocks once the situation surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war calms down, but warned that the current volatility could be costly for them. Retail investors bought over a net 70 billion won ($57.4 million) worth of Russia-related ETFs sold both locally and ov
Economy March 6, 2022
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Korean asset managers start suspending Russian funds
South Korean asset managers have started suspending the issue and redemption of shares on their Russia-exposed funds as the US and its allies continued to ramp up economic sanctions against Moscow. According to market tracker FnGuide on Wednesday, nine Russia-exposed equity funds, including an exchange-traded fund, with a combined asset of 158.7 billion won ($131.6 million), are being sold by Korean financial institutions. The nine funds have already disappointed investors since the beginning o
Market March 2, 2022
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