SEOUL, July 13 (Korea Bizwire) — Major banking group Hana Financial Group said Monday that it plans to complete a merger between its two banking units — Hana Bank and Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) — before October as KEB’s labor union has agreed on the proposed merger. Hana Financial has been pushing for the merger since its [...]
SEOUL, June 11 (Korea Bizwire) – With financial regulators’ nod to the Chinese Anbang Insurance Group’ acquisition of Tongyang Life Insurance, Korean financial firms now have to compete with a Chinese player on their home turf. On June 10, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that it had granted approval to Anbang Insurance for the acquisition [...]
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) – From September or sooner, Korean financial institutions will be able to freely use personal credit information on the condition that individuals are not identified, giving them a way to offer financial products using big data collected from consumers. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) decided on June 3 to move forward [...]
SEOUL, May 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean lender Woori Bank said Tuesday it has launched a mobile-only bank service ahead of establishing an Internet-only bank. Woori Bank’s “WiBee Bank” will serve as a test bed for simplified services that will later be part of its envisioned Internet-only bank unit, the lender said in a press [...]
“The lawsuit is very important, partly because of the amount of money. And mainly because it can be a barometer of Korea’s financial openness. The Korean government will show that it is taking transparent and legal action in dealing with the issue. We are doing so under the principle of due process without procedural problems. [...]
SEOUL, May 19 (Korea Bizwire) — One stop insurance supermarkets selling various insurance products like automobile, health and savings insurance online will begin service in September. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced that the new service enabling financial consumers to compare various insurance products in one place and to purchase best of breed products online [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) – BC Card is set to launch Korea’s first mobile credit card service that does not involve the use of a real plastic card. According to a company statement on May 3, BC Card conducted a series of pre-launch tests for its new product over a period of four days, and [...]
SEOUL, May 1 (Korea Bizwire) — An online crowd funding agency targeting small investors will be established in Korea. The National Policy Committee passed nine financial laws on April 30, and one of them was the establishment of an online small investment agent which enables a company to raise a maximum of 700 million won [...]
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) – The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is set to introduce a simpler authentication process for entering into insurance contracts online, which only involves authentication through SMS or ARS, rather than the current authentication process using public-key-certificates. This change is part of the response to 614 complaints related to financial services in Korea [...]
SEOUL, April 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial regulator said Thursday that Internet-only banks are expected to be launched in South Korea in 2015 as it is working on detailed measures to encourage big name IT firms like Naver and Daum Kakao to invest in the online banking industry. Under the current financial laws, a [...]