KDB Financial Group chairman Kang Man-soo unveiled his concrete plan to launch the group’s privatization process again this year.At a news conference on Thursday, Kang said the state-run financial group will sell 10 percent of the shares held by the government by the end of 2012.He said the stake sale will be carried out through the group’s planned listing, or pushing for initial public offering, on the stock market.Following similar remarks by chief financial regulator Kim Seok-dong a day befor

Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Seung-yu raised the possibility on Wednesday that the group’s preliminary deal with Lone Star Funds to trade shares of Korea Exchange Bank could fall apart.If financial regulators do not finalize their stance on whether to approve or reject the Hana-Lone Star deal by the end of February, there is a high possibility that the U.S. fund will drop out of the contract, Kim told reporters.Under the scenario, Lone Star may file a suit against financial regulators, he s

The nation’s import car industry saw its monthly sales fall for the first time in 28 months in December 2011.According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, foreign carmakers reported combined sales of 7,879 units last December, down from 8,294 units a year earlier.The year-on-year drop in sales was the first since the figure stood at 3,612 units in August 2009, compared with 4,894 units in August 2008.In addition, the figure of 7,879 is quite low compared to the 9,230

Major lenders look beyond China, Southeast Asia for growth in 2012Korea’s four major commercial banks plan to expand their business networks in Asia’s emerging markets this year.In particular, their 2012 targets include countries in central and Southern Asia as well as those in Southeast Asia, China and Japan.“Aside from markets like China, Vietnam and Singapore, the banking industry began actively tapping Kazakhstan, India and Bangladesh,” a local banker said.But he stressed that banks will sti

Hyundai Motor Group has set its sales target for this year at 7 million, chairman Chung Mong-koo said Monday.In a New Year’s message to his staff, Chung said the automotive group raised its 2012 sales target by 400,000 vehicles from its sales of 6.6 million units in 2011.In a bid to achieve the 7 million target for Hyundai-Kia vehicles, he said, the group has to keep up with fast-changing global trends by setting up an organized cooperation system for better communication among production facili

KB Financial to seek M&As if necessary; Eximbank to push for bank name changeKDB Financial Group chairman Kang Man-soo and Woori Financial Group chairman Lee Pal-seung have clarified their resolve to privatize the state-funded groups.In his New Year message to KDB Financial staff, Kang said the group will “expand global networks” to become a leading bank in Asia and “revitalize the plan to sell shares” held by the government.This year’s business policy of KDB Financial is drawing wide interest ―

The Chung Mong-koo Foundation has named Yoo Young-hak, a former health vice minister, as the new chairman.Starting next month, the 56-year-old chairman will lead the foundation to carry out social activities for the foundation, which was funded by Hyundai Motor Group.Yoo graduated from Gyeongbuk High School, then Korea University and the University of California, Berkeley.He had mostly served in the government as a public official since 1979.The Chung Mong-koo Foundation, formerly Haevichi Found

Group’s R&D investment to focus on launching more hybrid modelsHyundai Motor Group has set a record-high budget with its 2012 investment in two major sectors ― facilities and research & development.The automotive group said Thursday that its investment target for next year comes to 14.1 trillion won ($12.3 billion), up 15.6 percent from its 2011 investment.Of the 14.1 trillion won investment, 5.1 trillion won will be used for the R&D sector and the remaining 9 trillion won will be allocated to f

Hyundai Motor Group will establish an automotive research institute at the Seoul campus of Hanyang University.The business group said Wednesday that it has signed a contract with the university to build a research center for developing futuristic cars.The two sides will break ground for the establishment of the center during the first half of 2012, Hyundai Motor said in a statement.By offering students and researchers high-end facilities, the two sides hope to foster specialists to take on core

KDB Financial Group has reportedly made a preliminary contract with HSBC to take over the U.K.-based bank’s retail operations in Seoul.Group chairman Kang Man-soo told reporters Tuesday that the two parties have already concluded a memorandum of understanding.Over the past few months, the state-run group’s flagship unit, Korea Development Bank, has been striving to acquire 11 retail branches of HSBC Korea.Kang had vowed to buy a local bank as part of efforts to privatize the group and beef up it

The vision of Prudential of Korea is to become the most trusted company. Instead of becoming the biggest or most profitable company, it aims to be an honest and ethical company trusted by customers.The life insurance firm believes that the way it can achieve the vision is by keeping the promise it makes to its customers, which is delivery of insurance benefits.POK is committed to fulfilling the mission of life insurance, which is delivering financial security and peace of mind.Since its inceptio

Loan delinquency rate of small, medium-sized firms reaches dangerous levelCommercial banks plan to lower interest rates on loans to small- and mid-sized enterprises as the delinquency rate in the industry has continued to rise.The ratio of overdue loans in the SME sector has grown to a critical level, even surpassing the figure from the 2008 global financial crisis.State-funded banks ― Woori Bank, Export-Import Bank of Korea and Industrial Bank of Korea ― have taken the initiative and other majo

Toyota Motor Corp. said its vehicle sales may rise the most in at least 12 years in 2012 as Asia’s biggest carmaker recovers from production disruptions caused by Japan’s March earthquake and Thailand’s record flooding.The maker of Prius hybrid cars may boost global deliveries 20 percent to 8.48 million vehicles from an estimated 7.05 million in 2011, it said in a statement today. The forecast excludes Toyota’s Hino Motors Ltd. and Daihatsu Motor Co. units.Toyota, poised to lose its crown as the

Hyundai-Kia’s exports to surpass 2m units; import car sales to top 100,000 units in 2011The overall automotive industry of Korea posted robust sales growth in 2011, despite global economic woes in the wake of the eurozone debt crisis.Korean companies, such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, saw exports surge and foreign companies, including BMW and Mercedes-Benz, expanded their presence in the local market.As for German and Japanese brands, Hyundai and its affiliate Kia have been recognized as pow

Hyundai Motor tops German quality report for second consecutive yearHyundai Motor said Friday that former BMW designer Christopher Chapman will lead the carmaker’s global design initiative as chief designer at the Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. in the U.S.Chapman takes over from Philip Zak, who joined Hyundai Motor from General Motors in 2009 and recently returned to GM.The company expects that Chapman will strengthen Hyundai’s new automobile design and support the ongoing regeneration o

A private equity fund of IBK Securities is expected to take over a large portion of Kumho Industrial worth 1 trillion won ($877 million), according to creditors of the Kumho Asiana Group’s unit.On Friday, creditor banks selected IBK Securities, a brokerage unit of the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea, as the preferred bidder for a package of Kumho Asiana’s transportation units.The M&A targets included Kumho Industrial’s 100 percent stake in Kumho Buslines, 38.74 percent in Seoul Express Bus Te

Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo was selected as the second-most influential figure in the world’s automotive industry by U.S.-based publication Motor Trend.Last year, Chung ranked fifth on the “power list” named by the auto magazine.Over the past few years, Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors have achieved all of the goals Chung set, the magazine said.  It also said competitors, including Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Ford Motor and General Motors, are paying keen attention not to

Hana Financial Group is expected to take over Jeil 2 Savings Bank and Ace Mutual Savings Bank, beating another bidder Kiwoom Securities, according to government officials.An official of the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. said Thursday that the state-run agency will unveil the preferred bidder as early as Friday. He added that “there is a high possibility that Hana Financial will be picked.”Jeil 2 Savings Bank, which is headquartered in Seoul, has assets of 503.7 billion won ($441.8 million). Ace

Plan to privatize group may not be hampered by political considerationsWoori Financial Group chairman Lee Pal-seung said that the financial company will resume the stalled plan to sell state-owned shares in the first half of 2012.Lee told reporters Thursday that “policymakers are actively preparing for the resumption. The method will be welcomed among market participants.”He also stressed that the sale project should be a financial issue, not be handled by political powers. Parliamentary electio

Export-Import Bank of Korea has been expanding its social activities such as employment of the needy and supporting low-income households.For the project, the state-run bank said Wednesday that its budget for social activities sector will increase by about 50 percent to 3 billion won ($2.63 million) in 2012 from 2 billion won in 2011.“Some part of our interest income from extending loans to conglomerates will be allocated for contributing the underprivileged,” an Eximbank spokesman said.In its r