SEOUL, June 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean financial companies are beefing up efforts to foster their own characters based on judgment that they would help attract more customers. Among the characters that are famous in the banking industry is Shinhan Bank’s polar bear “SOL,” designed based on the motif of the Little Bear that [...]
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The combined net profit of insurance firms in South Korea dropped by more than 21 percent in the first quarter of this year amid the pandemic and a decline in asset value, regulator’s data showed Monday. The net profit of 53 major insurers here totaled 3.05 trillion won (US$2.45 [...]
SEOUL, May 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign bank branches in South Korea saw their combined net profit down 4.5 percent in 2021 due to a rise in securities-linked losses amid market downswings, data showed Monday. The combined net income of 35 foreign lenders’ local branches stood at 1.15 trillion won (US$904.4 million) in the fiscal [...]
SEOUL, May 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean online lender K-Bank said Monday its earnings shot up in the first quarter of the year on the back of a jump in interest income. Net profit stood at 24.5 billion won (US$19.1 million) in the January-March period, higher than its net income of 22.5 billion won [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean brokerage house Hana Financial Investment Co. said Monday that it is seeking to take over affiliate Hana Bank’s subsidiary in Hong Kong as part of efforts to tap into the Asian financial hub. Hana Financial Investment is considering a plan to purchase a 100 percent stake in [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Police on Friday referred an employee of Woori Bank, one of South Korea’s largest commercial banks, and his brother to the prosecution on charges of embezzling more than 60 billion won (US$47 million), officials said. The employee is suspected of having embezzled a total of 61.4 billion won through [...]
SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — KakaoBank Corp., a South Korean internet-only bank, Tuesday reported a 43.2 percent jump in its first-quarter earnings as its customer base continued to expand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Net income came to 66.80 billion won (US$52.8 million) in the January-March period, compared with 46.66 billon won tallied a year [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Toss Bank, one of the three internet-only banks in South Korea, said Monday it launched the country’s first banking services for foreign expats here to provide them more access to diversified services. Many expats have had difficulties in confirming their identities to open bank accounts here, particularly because the [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Hana Bank, a major bank, said Tuesday that it has opened a branch in Taiwan, marking the first for any South Korean lender to start operation there. Hana Bank’s Taipei branch went in operation Monday, 10 months after the Taiwanese authorities approved the setup of the branch. Hana Bank [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Controversy is flaring up over banks’ loan-deposit margins as households are suffering from higher interest rate burdens while banks are chalking up huge profits by raising loan interest rates higher than deposit rates. The combined net profit of the nation’s five major financial holding firms — KB Financial Group [...]