The financial regulator said Wednesday it has halted its review of a plan by KT Corp. to raise its stake in Internet-only K bank, citing an anti-trust inspection into the telecom firm.
KT, the nation’s biggest fixed-line Internet operator, asked the Financial Services Commission to review its plan last month as it seeks to a larger stake in K bank, which was launched in 2017 by a KT-led consortium.
K bank has planned to raise 592 billion won ($522 million) later this month via a rights offering.
(Yonhap)
In a statement, the FSC said it decided to suspend the review because the Fair Trade Commission, the country‘s corporate watchdog, is investigating into an allegation that KT violated an anti-trust law.
In January, a law came into force allowing information technology firms to hold as much as a 34-percent stake in an Internet-only bank.
However, the law prohibits a shareholder of an Internet-only bank from raising a stake in the bank if the shareholder is punished for violating an antitrust law. (Yonhap)
