Financial regulators’ planned action against Lone Star Funds is expected to affect the fate of Kim Seung-yu, chairman of Hana Financial Group striving to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from the U.S.-based equity fund.Early this year, group board members allowed Kim, who secured the post of Hana Bank CEO and Hana Financial chairman in 1997, to extend his term for the top post by one more year until March 2012.The board members’ endorsement for Kim’s tenure extension was attributable to necessity of

Samsung, Hyundai, Shinhan in campaign to attract more customersCredit card companies are fighting another marketing war despite financial regulators’ warnings against signing up too many customers.The industry’s big three ― Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card and Samsung Card ― have taken the initiative in the issuance competition. Other companies, such as KB Kookmin, Lotte and Hana-SK, are set to follow the move. In particular, Samsung Card, the third-largest issuer, has been aggressive in developing ne

Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. saw their cumulative sales in the U.S. surpass 10 million units as of October.In the North American market, Hyundai Motor sold about 7.13 million units over the past 25 years and Kia Motors’ sales came to about 3.68 million units over 17 years.Hyundai, which was established in 1967 and experienced first exported of the Pony sedan in 1976 to Ecuador, finally entered the U.S. market in 1986.The company has actively expanded its presence there wi

SK Telecom submitted its application to take over Hynix Semiconductor, owned by creditors, as a sole bidder on Thursday.Credit Suisse, one of the co-sale brokers for the deal, received the bid to acquire a 15 percent stake in Hynix from SKT, said officials at Korea Exchange Bank, the main creditor.SKT tendered the last minute application just before the 5:00 p.m. deadline after hours of heated in-house debate over whether to bid amid turmoil following the prosecution’s probe of the SK Group chai

Regulator apparently determined to take stern action against Lone Star FundsFinancial regulators hinted at the possibility that they could order Lone Star Funds, which was convicted of stock manipulation, to sell most of its stake in Korea Exchange Bank at market-determined prices on the stock market.A senior official of the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday dismissed speculation that the regulator will simply order Lone Star to sell the KEB shares with no specific conditions, which may

KEB union files injunction with Constitutional Court to ban regulator’s actionUnionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank, owned by Lone Star, filed an injunction with the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to ban the Financial Services Commission from ordering the U.S.-based fund to dispose of its KEB shares without probing the fund’s shareholder eligibility.If the Constitutional Court accepts the request from the KEB union, the FSC cannot instruct Lone Star to do so for the time being. The financial

About 5,000 unionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank are scheduled to hold a day-long rally in Yeouido, Seoul on Tuesday, demanding the financial regulator take punitive action against Lone Star Funds.Their planned gathering has been regarded as a strike amid the situation under which Lone Star, convicted of manipulating stocks of KEB’s credit affiliate, may leave the country with huge gains.The KEB union is also criticizing the Financial Services Commission for having been negligent in probing

About 5,000 unionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank are scheduled to hold a day-long rally in Yeouido, Seoul on Tuesday, demanding financial regulators take punitive action against Lone Star Funds.Their planned gathering has been regarded as a strike amid the situation under which Lone Star, convicted of manipulating stocks of KEB’s credit affiliate, may leave the country with huge gains.The KEB union is also criticizing the Financial Services Commission for having been negligent in probing sha

GM Korea launched its sales of the Malibu, a midsize sedan of Chevrolet series, in the local market a week ago.Though the company is pinning hope on the Malibu for its goal to grab more than 10 percent of the Korean market, data showed that the sedan fell behind the similar sedans of major competitors in terms of fuel efficiency, engine performance and price competitiveness.According to each company’s data for sales at dealerships, the gasoline-fueled Malibu with an engine capacity of 2.0 liters

Hyundai Motor has been closely competing with Toyota Motor to become No. 1 in automobile sales in Africa, posting about 60 percent in growth since to the beginning of the year.The company saw its sales in Africa reach 16,011 units in October, compared with 10,051 units in January.Hyundai has ranked second with a 12.8 percent share of the African market while Toyota captured 14.7 percent of the market.Hyundai has surpassed Toyota in the five major countries ― Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Angola and t

Regulator’s action against Lone Star Funds raises legal issuesHana Financial Group continues to face a hurdle in its plan to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from Lone Star Funds despite a court’s ruling that the U.S.-based equity fund engaged in stock manipulation.Over the past month, the Financial Services Commission has been in the preliminary stages of ordering Lone Star to sell a large portion of its stake in KEB following the court’s verdict on Oct. 6, which may pave the way for Hana Financial

CEO Hill promotes reform to compete with local commercial banksStandard Chartered First Bank Korea is considering opening several branches which offer offline and online services 24 hours a day and seven days a week, the first of their kind in the local financial sector.For the plan, the bank is reportedly benchmarking the case of a Singapore unit of the U.K.-based Standard Chartered Group.“In a shopping mall in Singapore, there is an SC bank branch providing customers with services till late at

The Financial Supervisory Service is set to conduct inquiries into five credit card companies to monitor their cyber security measures against possible leaks of customer information.The firms are BC Card, Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card, KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card.BC Card has been scheduled to be under yearly regulatory probe and the remaining four issuers will be subject to extraordinary scrutiny in the wake of the frequent financial accidents in the credit card sector.The FSS has already completed

The Financial Services Commission has been under mounting pressure to take stern action against Lone Star Funds, which was convicted of manipulating stocks of Korea Exchange Bank’s credit card affiliate.In particular, a group of lawmakers, professors and lawyers are calling on the FSC to reject Hana Financial Group’s application to acquire KEB from Lone Star.Their calls come amid speculation that the FSC may “simply” order the U.S.-based fund to dispose of its stake in KEB, a decision that could

Critics call for regulator to reject Hana’s KEB takeoverThe nation’s financial regulator has been under mounting pressure to take stern action against Lone Star Funds, which was convicted of manipulating stocks of Korea Exchange Bank’s credit card affiliate.In particular, a group of lawmakers, professors and lawyers are calling for the Financial Services Commission to reject Hana Financial Group’s application to acquire KEB from Lone Star.Their calls come amid speculation that the FSC may “simpl

Commercial banks plan to lower their earning targets for 2012, forecasting that the nation will continue to suffer from the economic slowdown and their revenues will decrease due to their recent decision to slash transaction service charges.Woori Bank has set the aim of its net profit for next year at about 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion), compared to the 2011 goal of 1.8 trillion won.Shinhan Bank is considering scaling down the 2012 target to between 1 trillion and 2 trillion won, compared with

Korea’s major automakers posted contrasting sales performances at home and abroad last month.Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors saw their exports increase in October from a year earlier. But their sales at home dropped on a yearly basis.Hyundai Motor sold 305,923 units, including exports and overseas production, abroad last month, up 18.3 percent from 258,644 units a year ago.The nation’s largest automaker saw exports of 114,454 units and sales of 191,469 units from overseas factories, increases of 18

Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors ranked No. 2 in sales of small vehicles in China during the first nine months of 2011, automotive data showed.It said the two carmakers saw their ranking climb by four notches on a year-on-year basis by grabbing 10.9 percent of the Chinese market. They placed sixth during the same period last year.The data showed that Hyundai-Kia sold a combined 162,472 units in the compact car segment between January and September.The companies saw their sales jump 52.

Financial authorities are considering instructing securities firms to slash service fees, including those on transactions for stocks and equity funds.Over the past five years, the local brokerage sector has enjoyed huge gains ranging between 6 trillion won ($5.2 billion) and 9 trillion won per annum by charging financial consumers a variety of fees.“We plan to review the service charge structure of the overall brokerage sector. Then, we will map out guidelines (to cut the fees),” said an officia

The seventh Busan International Finance Conference will be held on Monday, under the theme of “development strategies for Busan as a global center of cloud computing and outsourcing for financial services industries.”Co-hosts include the Korea Institute of Finance, the International Financial Forum of Pusan National University, the Asia-Pacific Financial Markets Research Center of the University of Hawaii and the Bank of Korea’s Busan branch.“The event will prepare Busan city to play a pivotal r