South Korea
LATEST ARTICLES
-
Stock market reform has not only revitalized the country's capital markets but has also permeated the real economy. Countries like Korea are quickly following suit. Interestingly, China also seems to be drawing inspiration.
-
In the wake of heavy losses and mis-selling to retail investors, there is an urgent need for an overhaul of risk management in the banking sector.
-
Restrictions may come at a cost as MSCI considers developed market status.
-
The 34th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
-
Hana Bank wins best domestic bank in Korea this year after a solid financial performance and innovation in its digital offering.
-
After performing strongly across all products, recording high income growth and enhancing its offering, KB Securities is Korea’s best investment bank this year.
-
Citi is named best international bank in Korea after an improved year-on-year financial performance.
-
The implementation of a clear and successful digital strategy sees kakaobank take best bank for digital solutions in Korea.
-
Industrial Bank of Korea is named the best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea this year thanks to its provision of specialized services to the sector, from flexible financing to personalised advisory.
-
The first domestic bank in Korea to produce a sustainability report, Shinhan Bank is named best bank for environmental, social and governance in the country after pursuing a robust sustainable agenda through financing activities and a series of sustainable partnerships.
-
Shinhan Bank is Korea’s best bank for corporate social responsibility. It has an extensive range of initiatives targeting individuals of all ages and abilities, and it supports business startups across the country.
-
The Korean government and the central bank will have their work cut out for them in 2023. They must overcome a loss of trust and criticisms over raising rates too quickly if they want to keep the economy humming and avoid a new crisis.
-
South Korea must do more to address diversity in the workplace. A few of the country’s banks are leading by example.
-
The 33rd annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
-
Shinhan Bank arguably pioneered the finance culture that built the modern banking industry in South Korea. The firm has its roots in Hanseong Bank, which dates back to 1897. But even now, Shinhan is setting the pace for the country’s financial sector.
-
Shinhan Bank arguably pioneered the finance culture that built the modern banking industry in South Korea. The firm has its roots in Hanseong Bank, which dates back to 1897. But even now, Shinhan is setting the pace for the country’s financial sector.
-
In May 2022, when South Korea’s startup accelerator D.Camp opened its first office in the port city of Busan, Kam-Chan Ahn topped the list of VIP invitees. After all, as chief executive of regional powerhouse Busan Bank, Ahn’s leadership team has carved out quite a name for itself among innovators in Korea’s second-biggest city.
-
The unmatched global network that Citi brings to South Korea is offering local clients ready access to international markets. The bank also excels at providing multinational corporations operating in Korea with access to the local market, making it an obvious choice for best international bank in the country.
-
Like South Korea’s economy, KB Financial Group has a knack for coming through a crisis looking relatively unscathed.
-
KB Kookmin Bank has boosted its support for small and medium-sized enterprises at incredible speed in recent years, with a tilt towards South Korea’s blossoming technology sector.
-
It is said that the true test of leadership is a crisis – and KakaoBank’s top executives were certainly put to the test on several occasions during the awards period.
-
Most banks pledging to reduce carbon footprints tend to target the end of the decade. Few can claim to have as ambitious a plan to get there as Hana Bank, which is carrying out a 30/60 plan.
-
In August 2022, Woori Bank’s parent company, Woori Financial Group, put the law of big numbers to great use. Its plan to offer financial assistance worth W23 trillion ($17 billion) to socially vulnerable groups over three years garnered banner headlines.
-
-
With its razor-sharp focus on SMEs, technology firms and ESG, Busan Bank has come a long way in the last 50 years, and is moving in the right direction.
-
Sprawling conglomerates dominate South Korea’s economy, making it hard to retool a creaking economic model. With a presidential election looming and financial technology firms growing, the market is ripe for disruption.
-
The 32nd annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
-
For international bank chieftains, life in Seoul is never boring. South Korean regulators are notorious for sudden tweaks to policies on household loans, dividends, labour policies and other areas that require increasingly agile responses.
-
Even in a land of hyper-savvy digital offerings, kakaobank remains an overachieving standout.
-
South Korea’s KB Financial Group is a clear winner of the best corporate and investment bank award, if only for making navigating the last 20 months of pandemic turmoil look easy.
-
Busan Bank, headquartered in South Korea’s second-largest city of Busan, takes the Asiamoney awards this year for best bank for SMEs and best bank for corporate social responsibility.
-
Busan Bank, headquartered in South Korea’s second-largest city of Busan, takes the Asiamoney awards this year for best bank for SMEs and best bank for corporate social responsibility.
-
Ok-Dong Jin, chief executive of Shinhan Bank, gave what has come to be known internally as the “do or die” address to his top executives last January. The gist of it was that the bank needed to accelerate efforts to raise its digital game or else it would lose ground to competitors.
-
-
Kakaobank did not exist four years ago. Now, it is an integral part of Korea’s banking sector. The next big step for the digital dynamo is its $3 billion IPO, slated for late 2021.
-
Each year, Shinhan Bank finds new layers to add to its already complex corporate and social responsibility offering.
-
No Korean financial institution is better at serving small and medium-sized enterprises than KB Financial Group.
-
It seems hard to believe that kakaobank didn’t even exist four years ago. Formed in 2017 with seed capital from a handful of big financial institutions, including KB Kookmin Bank (which owns 9.9% of kakaobank) and Korea Investment Value Asset Management (with 28.6%), it has taken the country by storm.
-
Citi’s strength in depth means it stands apart from its global peers in Korea. Because it has a large physical presence in the country, it was forced to act quickly in the early months of 2020 when Covid-19 struck and thousands of staff had to work from home.
-
Korea Investment & Securities is a worthy winner of this award. The Seoul-based financial institution’s investment banking team had a good year, defined by a strong and steady flow punctuated by big-ticket deals.
-
It no longer suffices to define kakaobank as purely a digital bank. It is hands down Korea’s best digital lender, but it is so much more than just that.
-
The 31st annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, hedge fund & private equity firms, insurance companies and wealth management houses in Asia, Europe and North America.
-
-
New banking rules have blown the competition wide open in South Korea, allowing banks to piggy-back off each other’s client relationships by offering a better mobile app.
-
South Korea’s banks are looking overseas for opportunities and faster profit growth now that their domestic market no longer offers the revenues and excitement it once did.
-
The last year has been an interesting one for small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea. According to the government, SMEs account for 99% of the country’s businesses, 88% of its total employment, 38% of exports and 51% of added value. In 2018, South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced that new rules governing loan-to-deposit ratios would go into effect at the start of 2020 for the country’s banks, encouraging more lending to small businesses. With such support, SME banking has boomed.
-
As traditional banks compete to lead the way in digital banking, one internet-only bank has stood out for its innovation, its presence in the market and its offerings to customers: kakaobank.
-
Korea’s saturated market means tough competition for both the established domestic banks as well as for international banks seeking a toehold. Of the foreign banks that have succeeded in cracking the market, Citi has gone the furthest, building on more than 30 years of banking experience in Korea to operate a popular commercial bank, in addition to a wealth management business and an investment bank.
-
KB Financial Group is not only one of the biggest investment banks in Korea, it is also the top player across the board. It ranks fourth among domestic investment banks, according to Dealogic, with a market share of 4%.
-
South Korea’s banking sector is dominated by a handful of big players that have close relationships with the country’s conglomerates. But of these players one in particular stands out for its breadth, its consistency and its eye toward future growth.
-
The 30th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and wealth managers from around the world.
-
As Korea’s top domestic bank, Shinhan is in a position to lead the way for corporate social responsibility in the country. And the bank has done just that, under its motto of ‘Compassionate finance’.
-
With 10 million-plus customers and only two years under its belt, this purely digital bank is one to watch in South Korea – and beyond.
-
This financial institution is one to watch – if you can find its hiding place.
-
-
Expanded rankings and additional categories, including other comparative and bespoke data, are available for purchase. Please contact Mee Ling Lee at meeling.lee@euromoneyasia.com for our data packages.
-
The 29th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and wealth managers from around the world. A total of 6,540 valid individual responses from 3,100 different institutions, including 411 hedge funds, were received.
-
The image abroad of corporate Korea is of the same big-name chaebol: LG, Samsung, Hyundai and so on. But like other wealthy markets geared toward manufacturing and exports (Germany and Japan), much value lies in small and medium-sized enterprises. These SMEs act as Korea’s beating heart, generating abundant employment and acting as vital crucibles of creativity.
-
Korea’s two fully licensed digital lenders, kakaobank and K Bank, hit the ground running in the second quarter of 2017. Both were well-funded and backed by large institutional shareholders: investment management firm Korea Investment Holdings and KB Kookmin Bank both backed Kakao, while a slew of well-heeled investors including KT Corporation (South Korea’s largest telecoms provider), Woori Bank and China’s Ant Financial invested in K Bank.
-
A decade ago, the founders or scions of corporate empires dominated the rich lists. But in recent years, the face of wealth has changed to reflect the successes of a younger generation of entrepreneurs.
-
Foreign lenders have long struggled to crack Korea. It’s a tough place in which to operate; bruising and bitterly competitive, only the tough and fully committed survive.
-
Nominating a winner for this award is not easy. Korea’s economy is dominated by conglomerates whose interests stretch across multiple sectors and markets. Meeting their day-to-day corporate and investment banking needs is big business for local and foreign lenders alike, and the quality of service between one institution and another can be difficult to define and discern.
-
For Korea’s commercial banking sector, 2018 was an annus horribilis; many of the biggest lenders were assailed by recruitment scandals that claimed several chief executives, while underlying business was squeezed by a bunch of impressively disruptive digital upstarts.
-
Scandals, unexpected delays and arcane regulations are just some of the reasons why the country’s IPO market proved a big disappointment in 2018 – now the top financial regulator wants to bring in new rules to lift the market.
-
Dark memories of the Asian financial crisis inform South Korea’s fear of chaos and wariness of financial technology, but the success of two online banks gives the country what it needs: fintech leaders it can respect and disruption it can embrace.
-
Proving one’s worth in terms of corporate social responsibility isn’t easy. Some banks pay the concept little more than lip service or ignore it altogether. At the other extreme, PR-conscious global banks can often overshadow the quieter success stories that are woven by smaller regional or local lenders.
-
-
Korea’s big lenders are striking out properly for the first time, buying assets and opening branches across southeast Asia. With their home market saturated, they have little choice but to travel in hope. But will that be enough?
-
Kakao Bank has become a powerful presence in its home market very quickly. In the 24 hours after the internet-only bank was launched in July 2017, 300,000 people applied for accounts, more than the number of requests most traditional lenders receive through their online channels in a year.
-
Korea’s private banking world has long been curiously underdeveloped, particularly given that it serves one of the world’s largest economies, not to mention one of the most aspirational and financially literate.
-
South Korea is a tough place for foreign lenders. The market is big, but dominated by local players and burdened by onerous regulations. Global players have come and gone over the years, most notably HSBC, which pulled out of the retail market in 2013.
-
Few financial institutions in Asia can surely be as focused on corporate and social responsibility as Hana Financial Group, parent of top-tier domestic lender KEB Hana Bank.
-
There are banks that excel at offering a solid range of financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises. And then there are actual SME banks, which exist primarily to serve the needs of buzzing young firms, the lifeblood of any economy.
-
Credit Suisse is consistently at or near the top of the tree in Korea’s fiercely competitive investment banking world. The Swiss firm reported more net income than any other foreign securities firm in 2016, according to data from the financial regulator.