Articles by Song Seung-hyun
Song Seung-hyun
ssh@heraldcorp.com-
Hana chief aims to double overseas share of profits
Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo on Tuesday said that the group aims to increase its profit from overseas operations to around 40 percent of the total in the medium to long term at the "Invest K-finance: Singapore IR 2023" event in Singapore. To reach this goal, Ham said the group will continue to use its current strategy of making strategic investments in minority stakes in overseas financial institutions. “This approach provides the advantage of minimizing financial
Industry May 10, 2023
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KB chief seeks to ease concerns over real estate financing
KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said the banking group has been preparing for potential insolvency risks in project financing in the Korean real estate market by increasing its reserve holdings during a global investor relations event held in Singapore on Tuesday. During the "Invest K-Finance: Singapore IR 2023" event, many global investors voiced concern over the rising risks in the real estate project financing market in Korea. The loan exposure of four major Korean fina
Industry May 10, 2023
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[KH Explains] Behind Hana Financial’s birth rate boosting mission
Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo has made it his mission this year to position the financial group as a leader in addressing the issue of a declining birth rate in the country. "The declining birth rate is a social issue that finance firms should be paying attention to. It is one of the primary areas where financial firms should be taking a leading role," Ham said in a statement. This move came after Korea's fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman bear
Industry May 9, 2023
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KB Financial bolsters ties with global financial firms
KB Financial Group hosted its "Cocktail Reception" on Thursday at the Sheraton Grand Incheon with key players in the global financial industry. The event showcased the Korean company's businesses and growth strategies while exploring potential opportunities for collaboration. The reception also served to commemorate the 56th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank, which took place in Incheon last week. Seventy KB Financial Group executives, including Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo
Industry May 8, 2023
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Top financial firms log Q1 net growth; increase loan loss reserves
All four major financial holding companies in Korea have increased their loan loss reserves during the first quarter of this year. Despite this, KB Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, Hana Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group have managed to report an improvement in net profit during this period. KB's loan loss reserves in the January-March period were 668.2 billion won, surging dramatically from 145.8 billion won during the same period last year. Despite the increase in loan los
Industry April 27, 2023
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ReWorld Forum explores finance roles in tackling climate change
The SDX Foundation chairman warned that innovative changes to our old perception of the climate crisis must occur within the next 10 years, or it will be impossible to prevent catastrophic consequences. “Although our generation only worked hard for our family and society, the outcome has unfortunately led to passing on a deteriorated environment to our children,” said SDX Foundation Chairman Jhun Ha-jin, 65, during a ReWorld Forum in Seoul on Wednesday. “Due to this unfortunate
Industry April 26, 2023
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Meritz ascends to become No. 3 financial group
Meritz Financial Group on Tuesday completed the process of incorporating its nonlife insurance and brokerage affiliates into the group, making it the third-largest financial conglomerate in Korea. After the consolidation, the group's market capitalization is expected to extend to over 9 trillion won ($6.73 billion). Only KB Financial Group (19.85 trillion won) and Hana Financial Group (12.31 trillion won) are estimated to have higher market capitalizations. The group's decision to in
Industry April 25, 2023
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[K-Financiers] KB Global Fintech Lab acts as catalyst for startups' Asia expansion
KB Global Fintech Lab is at the forefront of supporting South Korean startups to have Singapore as a launchpad and make their way into other overseas markets. At the same time, KB, the Korean banking giant, aims to seek new business opportunities in the Southeast Asian country’s sprawling digital finance sector. "Although some in-house teams for digitalization exist in our company, it's difficult to develop and create everything on our own. As a result, we are now supporting st
Industry April 24, 2023
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Apple Pay triggers surge in Hyundai Card users
Hyundai Card, the first partner of Apple Pay in South Korea, saw a 75 percent on-month increase in the number of its new card users during the first month since the payment service launched in Korea. The number of new Hyundai Card members has increased by 203,000 following the launch of Apple Pay in Korea on Mar. 21, according to data from the Credit Finance Association of Korea. The number of new members of Hyundai Card in March was the highest among eight local credit card companies -- Lotte,
Industry April 21, 2023
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Samsung Life buys 20% stake in Meridiam SAS
Samsung Life Insurance announced on Thursday that it has acquired a 20 percent stake in Meridiam SAS, a French private equity firm focused on infrastructure investment. With this investment, Samsung Life has become the second-largest shareholder of the French company. "As Meridiam has diverse investment experience and expert executives in the infrastructure sector, we believe that it is an adequate strategic partner for Samsung Life Insurance's global alternative investment expansion,
Industry April 20, 2023
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FSC to ease regulation on Korean investment firms' foreign lending
The Financial Services Commission will revise the net capital ratio regulation to create a more favorable environment for Korean investment firms' overseas lending business, the financial regulator said Monday. At a seminar held at the Korea Exchange Monday, many securities firms here -- including Mirae Asset Securities -- raised the issue on how the current regulation makes it difficult to conduct their business outside of Korea. Currently, all investment firms are obligated to maintain a
Industry April 17, 2023
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Major crypto exchanges delist paycoin
Paycoin, the cryptocurrency issued by PayProtocol, was delisted from three major virtual asset trading platforms in South Korea after the issuer's petition for a preliminary injunction against the removal was rejected by a Seoul court on Friday. PayProtocol, a subsidiary of payment service company Danal, filed the petition on April 8, after the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) -- consisting of five major crypto exchanges-- announced on March 31 that it would stop trading paycoin on Bi
Industry April 16, 2023
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FSS chief reaffirms will to revamp financial systems
Lee Bok-hyun, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service, on Thursday renewed his commitment to establishing a financial ecosystem that meets global standards. "The supervisory authorities have already decided to repeal the registration requirement for foreign investors and also are revamping the system to meet the demands of overseas financial institutions and investors, including establishing a dedicated system for screening foreign funds,” Lee said during the FSS Speaks conference
Industry April 13, 2023
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South Korea’s on-year job additions bounce back sharply in March
South Korea's labor market bounced back strongly in March after lackluster growth over the past 10 months as in-person activities have become more widespread. The total number of employed people came to 28.22 million in March, increasing by 469,000 on-year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea on Wednesday. After reaching a peak in June last year -- seeing an on-year increase of 841,000 employed people, the number had been weakening before rebounding last month. "Althou
Industry April 12, 2023
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KOTRA vows all-out efforts to meet $685b export goal
The CEO of the state-run trade promotion agency KOTRA on Tuesday vowed the agency would try its best to reach South Korea’s export target of $685 billion this year. “We will strive to provide support to Korean firms, even if it results in just one additional dollar of exports," Yu Jeoung-yeol said during a press conference held in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday. Yu’s announcement came after the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said last week that it held a meeting in
Industry April 11, 2023
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