Korea

Industrial Bank of Korea's fourth-quarter earnings rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier on improved lending margins.

KB Financial Group swung to a loss in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to a massive one-off charge for its job-cut program.

KT seeks to take advantage of increasing use of mobile devices for payments, whose transactions amount to $37.4bn.

The new head of South Korea's state-run trade bank on Wednesday stressed the need to increase the bank's capital in a bid to beef up its capacity to secure overseas projects.

Loans extended by South Korean credit card companies surged in 2010 as they beefed up cash lending to offset falling earnings from credit purchases.

The lender still on hunt for CEO as acting Chair and CEO Ryoo Shee-yul is not included on the list.

Shinhan Financial Group's net income stood at US$329.9 million for the October-December period. Compared with  with the US$232 million for the same period in 2009, this is a 42.2 per cent increase.

Korea Exchange Bank's earnings sank 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier due to a non-interest loss and rising costs.

 

Hana’s KEB takeover is still subject for Korea’s financial regulator’s approval.

Workers plans to stop takeover by Hana as it will probably implement a massive reorganization that involves downsizing.

With inflation continuing to inch higher towards the pre-crises level, BOK is expected to proceed with its policy normalisation.

Korea’s regulator suspended Samwha’s operations for six months, after it failed to meet capital requirement levels.

The lender issued three tranches of yen denominated bonds maturing in one year, 18 months and two years.

KB Financial is seen to engage in share exchange deals with two or three Korean conglomerates.

The lender targets 20% profit rise as it expects economy to be stable this year.