Korea

BS Financial Group Inc., the holding company of regional lender Busan Bank, said Monday its net profit came to 225.8 billion won in the first half of the year.    The first-half results reflected earnings from March 15 to June 30, because the holding company, which has Busan Bank and three other affiliates under its wing, started operating on March 15, it said.    Revenue stood at 1.4 trillion won, while operating profit came in at 296.7 billion won, the group said in a regulatory filing.    The group's flagship Busan Bank raked in a net 230.5 billion won on a revenue of 1.3 trillion won in the January-June period.    BS Financial's total assets reached 36.9 trillion won as of the end of June, with non-performing loans accounting for 1.05 percent of its total lending, the group said.    The group is based in Busan, the country's largest port city 453 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission suspended the operation of a local savings bank for six months, citing its capital shortage, according to Yonhap News.

The second quarter net beats forecasts as bad loan provisions fall to less than half year-ago level.

Industrial Bank of Korea's second-quarter net profit climbed 20.9 percent from a year earlier.

The company posted a $674.61mn gain from selling 8.3 million shares in Hyundai Engineering & Construction last April.

Shinhan Financial's second-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year ago on a rise in non-interest income and lower loan-loss reserves.

Main focus is to boost non-banking divisions as the South Korean banking market faces saturation.

 Woori Finance returned to profit in the second quarter on a sharp rise in non-interest income.

The use of Internet banking in South Korea rose 0.7 percent in the second quarter from three months earlier.

The sale to Hana of its 6.25% stake in KEB will earn KEXIM about $209.1mn in net profit.

South Korea's financial watchdog said Wednesday that it gave the green light to Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. to establish a branch in Seoul.

Yet its sales dipped 28.4% as the bank’s net income soared by 141.6% to $457.7mn. 

Korea Investment Corporation seeks to diversify investment options by tapping commodities and private equity markets.

National Pension Service’s unwillingness to participate in Woori stake purchase sale raised difficulty for three bidders to secure $6bn capital.

Sagging profits the nation’s top 4 prompted them to hire more employees to boost insurance business.

South Korea's Financial Supervisory Services put the brakes on local financial groups' moves to dole out substantial amounts of dividends to their shareholders.