The nation’s financial authority has been under mounting pressure to reject the takeover deal between Hana Financial Group and U.S. Lone Star Funds on the latter’s planned sale of Korea Exchange Bank. Amid several unfavorable factors for Lone Star, including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, the possibility that the Financial Services Commission will scrap its alleged decision to endorse the de...

Major financial groups have been in keen competition to take over debt-saddled savings banks whose operations were suspended by regulators for liquidity woes. The Financial Services Commission has halted operations of seven savings banks since January. Among the potential buyers targeting them are KB Financial, Woori Financial, Shinhan Financial and Hana Financial. Woori Financial has become th...

The comeback of former Finance Minister Kang Man-soo as the new chief of a state bank is likely to rekindle debate over creating so-called mega financial firms and swirl the banking sector in a wave of takeovers, market watchers said Sunday. South Korea's financial watchdog last week recommended Kang Man-soo, a close confidant of President Lee Myung-bak, as new chairman of the state-run KDB Fina...

Korean credit card companies saw earnings surge 46.1 percent last year from a year earlier due mainly to one-off gains, the financial regulator said Thursday. The combined net profit of six local credit card-only companies reached 2.72 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in 2010, compared with 1.86 trillion won in 2009, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a report. The stronger bottom line ...

The Fair Trade Commission ruled on Thursday Hana Financial Group’s takeover of Korea Exchange Bank does not violate competition rules, bringing the nation’s fourth largest banking group a step closer to winning regulatory approval due next Wednesday. The watchdog notified the Financial Supervisory Commission that the planned purchase does not necessarily reduce competition in the industry as the...

Korea’s biggest investor the National Pension Service said Thursday that it would stop placing stock and derivative orders with the Korean branch of Deutsche Bank AG for six months following the regulator’s six-month suspension of the local unit. The pension fund will not trade through the German brokerage “to limit exposure to institutions that received regulatory penalties, in order to reduce ...

Korea’s bourse operator on Wednesday gave the green light to Hana Financial Group Inc.‘s request to list its new shares on the local bourse, a move expected to expedite the group’s takeover of the country‘s fifth-largest lender. Hana Financial’s new shares will start trading on Thursday, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said in an e-mailed statement, adding that the decision was reached upon a comprehen...

Korea plans to tighten supervision of savings banks after the government was forced to suspend eight lenders this year because they were unable to meet depositors’ withdrawal demands. The Financial Services Commission will stop setting favorable lending limits for savings banks that have a capital-adequacy ratio of more than 8 percent and a bad-loan ratio below 8 percent, the regulator said in a...

South Korean stocks started higher on Wednesday as overnight gains on Wall Street lifted investor sentiment, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 0.28 percent, or 5.56 points, to 2,001.88 in the first 15 minutes of trading. A retreat in oil prices bolstered U.S. stocks on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 1.03 percent and the tech-focus...

The capital adequacy ratio of South Korean banks edged down in the fourth quarter of 2010 from three months earlier due to their payouts of year-end stock dividends, the financial regulator said Wednesday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 18 local lenders, including top lender Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank, reached 14.6 percent as of the end of December, down 0.02 percentage point from end-Se...