South Korea is slated to unveil policy packages to promote fair competition between traditional financial giants and emerging tech players as the pandemic accelerates the digital transformation in the local finance industry, a senior official said Wednesday. Responding to the rise of tech giants in the sector, the Financial Services Commission will construct a legal framework to supervise those firms’ presence in the finance market and ease regulatory imbalances between convention

Market Nov. 4, 2020

Woori Financial Group said Tuesday it would implement an employee training program starting this month, to enhance its digital capabilities. For the program, the group will publish storyboards online about how to create digital financial services, make a good use of e-marketing methods and study consumer trends, officials said.  Employees from digital finance units across the banking group’s affiliates -- Woori Bank, Woori Card, Woori Finance Research Institute and Woori FIS, a fina

Market Nov. 3, 2020

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Tuesday it had launched an online sales channel on Naver, South Korea’s biggest search portal, to support social ventures operated by young entrepreneurs.  The lender has partnered with Naver’s donation platform, called “Happybean,” and opened up an online market there, which will be run until Nov. 30.  As of Tuesday, six social enterprises were selling a wide variety of products ranging from food to clothing, while introdu

Market Nov. 3, 2020

NH NongHyup Bank said Friday that it has partnered with Naver Cloud Platform to use a public cloud system to operate its mobile-based financial services, becoming the first company in the local banking industry to do so.   Under the partnership, the lender will employ a financial public cloud system offered by NCP -- the cloud affiliate of South Korea’s leading internet portal operator, Naver -- when running its own mobile banking application All One Bank, which offers savings and d

Market Oct. 30, 2020

South Korean subsidiaries of foreign banking groups, online giants and daily necessities makers made the annual list for the 10 best companies working toward gender equality among the country’s 500 largest firms, data showed Thursday.  This year’s awarded firms comprised foreign-based lenders Citibank Korea and Standard Chartered Bank Korea, leading local internet firms Naver and Kakao, cosmetics giant Amorepacific, outdoor clothing manufacturer Yongone Corp., LG Group a

Market Oct. 29, 2020

Woori Bank said Wednesday it has launched a Korea desk at its branch in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to help South Korean companies extend their business into the South Asian country. Through the service desk, the lender will provide useful market information, including local financial regulations, along with special offers like hotel reservations and airport pickup for customers on business trips to Bangladesh. Also, the officials will conduct financial counseling programs targeting those who are plan

Market Oct. 28, 2020

The number of rich people in South Korea has more than doubled in the past 10 years, a report showed Wednesday. According to the Korea Wealth Report 2020 released by KB Financial Group Research Institute, the number of people with financial assets worth more than 1 billion won ($884,000) reached 350,000 last year, up 9.6 percent on-year. The report defines a rich as a person holding financial assets worth more than 1 billion won. The number of Korean rich has been growing for nine years, wit

Economy Oct. 28, 2020

Yoo Myung-soon, the new CEO of Citibank Korea -- the local branch of New York-based Citigroup -- urged the bank’s leaders as well as employees to ramp up efforts to counter potential managing risks for consumer protection in her inaugural speech Wednesday, officials said.  “New risk factors evolve as our operating environment changes. Risk management and internal controls are a key responsibility for all of us,” Yoo said.  Also, she vowed to enhance the lender&rsq

Market Oct. 28, 2020

Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo on Tuesday stressed the importance of consumer protection in the coronavirus era amid surging financial investment activities by retail investors taking advantage of ultralow interest rates. “Consumer protection is more important than ever as retail investors have increasingly invested in high-profit financial products amid the low interest rate environment triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Financial Services Commission C

Economy Oct. 27, 2020

   Yoo Myung-soon, incumbent interim chief executive officer of Citibank Korea, was officially tapped to lead the bank as the first female chief to lead the US lender’s local unit, officials said Tuesday. The South Korean subsidiary of the New York-based bank held a general meeting of stockholders and the board of directors early in the morning to approve and confirm Yoo’s appointment. Yoo, who previously served as the bank’s senior executive vice president, was

Market Oct. 27, 2020

Amid a prolonged economic contraction and shrinking employment rate, South Koreans in their 20s have increasingly become debt-ridden, depending on bank overdrafts and credit card loans, data showed.  The outstanding balance of bank overdrafts and card loans extended to 20-somethings totaled 2.14 trillion won ($1.91 billion) as of end-June, up sharply from 1.97 trillion won and 2.07 trillion in 2018 and 2019, respectively, said Rep. Jeon Jae-su of the ruling Democratic Party, quoting data

Economy Oct. 26, 2020

NH NongHyup Bank said Monday it has launched its branch office in Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country.  The establishment of Yangon-based branch came after the lender had obtained final approval from the country’s central bank in late June. It is the second regional office branch, followed after NongHyup Finance Myanmar, a microfinancing institution that has been in operation since 2016. The Yangon office will set a foothold for

Market Oct. 26, 2020

The government is slated to unveil a set of additional real estate policies as early as this week, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related agencies on Sunday. The goal is to ease a supply shortage of “jeonse” apartments sparked by recently introduced tenant protection laws.  Jeonse is a housing lease system unique to Korea whereby tenants pay a lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent on a two-year contract. The planned measure, the 24th of its kind, will

Market Oct. 25, 2020

Shinhan Financial Group said Thursday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnamese subsidiary of Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab to jointly develop new digital financial services.  Under the agreement, Shinhan’s startup accelerator unit, Shinhan Future’s Lab Vietnam, and Grab will join hands to nurture budding local enterprises developing new services ranging from fintech to real estate and will work together to build a startup-friendly ecosyst

Market Oct. 22, 2020

South Koreans who rent their homes are less likely to get married and have children than those who own their own homes, a private think tank said Wednesday. When people who paid monthly rent were compared with homeowners, the former were 65 percent less likely to tie the knot than the latter, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute, which is under the country’s top business lobby, the Federation of Korean Industries. For people who have “jeonse” apartment leases, t

Market Oct. 21, 2020