SEOUL, Oct. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean securities companies are waging a fierce competition to take over KDB Daewoo Securities Co., one of the nation’s leading brokerages, in a deal that could come as a game changer for the industry. The Korea Development Bank (KDB), a state-run policy lender, is seeking to sell off [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Large general agencies (GAs) are expanding their sales power, employing more than 100,000 financial consultants and surpassing 10 percent market share. However, their cases of incomplete sales of insurance went up slightly. The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced that as large GAs with more than 500 financial consultants are increasing [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – As more chiefs of financial firms are jumping on the wage cut bandwagon, high-ranking officials in financial circles are contemplating joining the trend. According to industry watchers, executives from three major financial holding companies including KB, Shinhan and Hana decided to cut their own wages. However, other financial firms are waiting [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – While TV home shopping companies are making profits greater than one trillion won by selling insurance, consumers are facing damages because of dishonest sales tactics. In the meantime, insurance has settled as one of the main revenue streams for home shopping businesses, and the commissions received from insurance companies [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The head of South Korea’s top financial regulator pledged Friday to lower entry barriers for foreign banks seeking to tap into the local market. “To encourage financial companies to tap into other countries, each country must work to increase the conformity of their local rules with international norms,” Financial [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) has expressed its interest in buying a stake in state-run Woori Bank, which has been put up for sale, a government official said Friday. The Seoul government has been trying to sell its 51.04 percent stake in the bank since 2010 in a [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s leading online shopping site Interpark said Wednesday it has joined forces with the nation’s top mobile carrier and several other firms to win regulatory approval for running an Internet-only bank. Interpark said its consortium includes SK Telecom, the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea, GS Home Shopping and four [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 25 (Korea Bizwire) – As many large firms have been aggressively repaying their debts, bank loans to large companies dropped to a 10-month low in July. Unlike the increase in the number of bank loans to SMEs, large companies are turning to direct financing channels including bonds, commercial paper (CP) and stock issuance. According [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) - Bank Wallet Kakao (Banka), the mobile financial service of KakaoTalk, will increase their charge and wire transfer limits during the next month. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), 17 domestic banks and the Korea Post have partnered with Banka. All 18 members of the alliance are rewriting the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – In the first half of the year, insurance companies in Korea made net profits of 4.5 trillion won, powered by a surge in one-time profits such as sales of equities. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on August 16, the combined net income of 39 insurance firms in Korea [...]