Woori Financial Group has set out to acquire Hi Asset Management, marking the first step in its stated moves to expand its nonbanking business through strategic mergers and acquisitions and strengthen its holding company structure.Woori Financial was among those that joined the preliminary bidding process for Hi Asset Management on Monday, alongside Kiwoom Securities and a number of private equity funds from Korea and abroad, according to an industry report. Hi Asset Management, a subsidiary of

Hana Financial Group, South Korea’s third-largest banking group, said Tuesday that it has partnered with SK Telecom and Kiwoom Securities to take aim at forming a new internet-only bank here.The three companies have formed a consortium with Kiwoom Securities holding the biggest stake. Together, they are embarking on preparations to apply for a government-issued license to operate an online-only bank here, according to Hana Financial. The move comes as the firms seek to further embrace the

Foreign investors in South Korea continued to purchase more locally listed stocks while offloading bonds last month, the latest data on foreign investors’ stock and bond ownership by the Financial Supervisory Service showed Monday.Foreign investors net purchased some 3.73 trillion won ($3.32 billion) in locally listed stocks during January, continuing the transition to net buying observed in December last year, according to the FSS.By region, Europe net purchased 1.7 trillion won in stocks

South Korea should encourage the establishment of an independent research body that produces unbiased securities reports to guide investors, suggests a latest report by the Korea Institute of Finance.According to a KIF report Sunday, the proportion of “sell” opinions for Korean companies that were adopted by local securities companies between September 2017 to September 2018 stood at a mere 0.1 percent.During the same period, the proportion of “sell” opinions adopted by f

The Korea Customs Service, the body in charge of clearing all goods that enter and leave South Korea, is out to become a leader in “smart customs” systems powered by next-generation technologies.The KCS continues to improve its automated customs administration solution, UNI-PASS, which has so far been exported to 13 countries and is spreading Korea’s high-tech customs management know-how around the world, it said.With UNI-PASS as its anchor, the customs service provider will work to establish a

The chiefs of South Korea’s top 10 conglomerates are expected to collect record-high dividends for 2018 on the back of generous dividend payouts from the listed companies, according to data from corporate market tracker Chaebul.com on Sunday.Together, the heads of Korea’s 10 biggest family-owned conglomerates are poised to earn about 757.2 billion won ($670 million) in dividends for the fiscal year of 2018. This marks a 42.4 percent rise from 531.8 billion won in dividends they collected in 2017

South Korea’s major banking groups are actively seeking mergers and acquisitions to expand their nonbanking business, in an effort to diversify incomes in light of volatilities in the main banking sector.Faced with the government’s efforts to lower lending rates, banks here have been turning their attention to diversifying their portfolio, focusing on acquiring nonbanking finance firms, such as loan service providers and credit card firms.The latest move was made by KB Financial

Global credit card giant Visa is planning to open a new innovation center in South Korea as it seeks to expand partnerships with local financial technology startups to develop the next generation of payment solutions.“Korea is considered an epicenter of fintech innovation. To pursue a more meaningful fintech-big tech collaborative business model, we are planning to establish an innovation center here,” said Patrick Yoon, country manager for Visa International Asia Pacific Korea, duri

South Korea’s four major banking groups logged record net profits in 2018 on the back of robust interest income, with Shinhan Financial Group retaking its position as the country’s No. 1 banking group with the best earnings performance.Shinhan Financial posted a net profit of 3.16 trillion won ($2.89 billion) in 2018, up 8.2 percent from the previous year. It is the highest net profit recorded by the group to date, led by big gains from Shinhan Bank.According to Shinhan Financial, it

The preliminary bidding for Lotte Capital, the loan services unit of Korean-Japanese conglomerate Lotte Group, takes place Tuesday, with the country’s major banking groups and private equity funds expected to participate. Lotte Capital is one of the three Lotte companies currently on the market. The two remaining firms on sale -- Lotte Card and Lotte Non-Life Insurance -- already held the preliminary bidding on Jan. 30, with a number of conglomerates and PEFs showing interest. Among the th

Anticipation is growing to see who will gain the right to operate South Korea’s third and possibly its fourth internet-only bank, as financial regulators prepare to welcome new players to the web-only banking business following the easing of bank ownership regulations.Right now Korea has just two internet banks: Kakao Bank, operated by mobile messaging giant Kakao; and K bank, run by telecommunications firm KT.But last month, a new regulatory change allowing nonfinancial institutions to ow

South Korea’s state pension fund has decided to exercise its shareholder rights over Namyang Dairy, a major dairy producer here, by pushing the firm to increase its dividend payouts to investors. The National Pension Service, the country’s biggest institutional investor, on Thursday said it will formally ask Namyang Dairy to establish an independent committee for dividend policies and regulatory disclosures.The move comes amid mounting criticism that the dairy firm has been paying small dividend

South Korea’s Woori Bank has partnered with Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab’s Cambodia office to offer low-interest loans and other specialized financial products to Grab drivers in the country, the bank said Thursday.WB Finance, the Cambodian business unit of Woori Bank, signed a memorandum of understanding with Grab Cambodia, to launch a series of financial services specifically designed for Cambodia’s Grab drivers, including low-interest loans. “Grab Cambodia w

A South Korean man has reportedly filed a damage suit seeking compensation for war bonds and insurance products his father was forced to purchase from Japanese financial companies in 1943 during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea. According to a report by local broadcaster YTN on Thursday, Ahn Chul-woo, an 80-year-old man living in Busan, is pursuing a lawsuit in Korea against Japan Post Group, a major financial company and postal service operator in the neighboring country. Ahn directed his su

Anticipation is building up over who will become the new owner of Lotte Card, a credit card business owned by Korean-Japanese retail conglomerate Lotte Group that has been put up for sale.　Lotte Group has set out to sell three of its financial units -- Lotte Card, Lotte Non-Life Insurance and Lotte Capital – as part of steps toward adopting a holding company structure. Under South Korean law mandating a separation of financial and industrial capital, a holding corporation cannot possess fi

The monthly rental price of one-room studio apartments in Seoul was highest in December and lowest in April last year, according to data released by South Korea’s real estate and housing listing site operator DaBang on Wednesday.The Seoul-based studio apartments under consideration were those less than 33 square meters in size, DaBang said. The results are based on monthly rent fees of 1 million studio apartments in Seoul that were listed on DaBang in 2018, after unilaterally fixing the de

Refinitiv, a financial data company co-owned by Blackstone Group and Thomson Reuters, said it is introducing its risk-management business to South Korea this year for financial risk control and crime prevention.The firm was formerly the financial and risk business division of Thomson Reuters. It became independent under a new name, Refinitiv, when private equity group Blackstone purchased a 55 percent stake in the business from Thomson Reuters in October 2018.The company highlighted it

SoftBank Ventures Asia, which recently renamed itself to reflect its broadened focus on startups in the Asia-Pacific region beyond South Korea, will form a new investment fund dedicated to artificial intelligence startups in Asia with “globally disruptive” products and services this year.　The venture capital arm of Japan’s SoftBank Group plans to establish within the year a new global investment fund to back promising AI startups in Asian countries other than China, according t

South Korea is increasingly going walletless, as more people are opting to use services that allow payments to be made easily with just smartphones both offline and online. With growing opportunities, smartphone-based payments have drawn interest from multiple players including information and technology companies, credit card companies and the government.It is still unclear which mobile payment service will eventually dominate Korea, where smartphones are ubiquitous. Amid rising competition, Ko

The chief of the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea urged its employees at home and abroad to embrace client-centric innovation as a key mission for 2019 during a companywide event to share the bank’s management strategy and vision for the year, held Friday.　“The year 2019 will determine which banks survive the infinite competition and also determine a new order for the finance sector for the next 10 years,” said IBK Chairman and CEO Kim Do-jin during a companywide event in Chu