Category: Korea-Business

If it feels like there are less ATMs to use in South Korea you would be right because their numbers are decreasing due to banks losing money trying to maintain them:

As the bankbook fades in popularity, ATMs are beginning to vanish as well. According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the number of ATMs run by domestic banks peaked at the end of 2011 with 56,102 machines and has declined since then, marking 53,562 units last year.

The ATM was first introduced by British bank Barclays in 1967. Back then, ATMs caused as big of a splash in the banking industry as financial technology, or fintech, is making today. As ATMs proliferated, many bank tellers saw themselves becoming redundant. Ironically, as ATMs now fade, the number of bank employees is on rise – to 118,703 last year from 110,529 a year earlier.

One reason for the decline of ATMs is a decrease in bank branches where the machines are installed. Between 2011 and 2014, 64 domestic bank branches and local offices shut their doors, largely due to the rise of internet and mobile banking services.

However, ATMs are disappearing much faster than bank branches. In many cases, this is because the fees charged by the machines are no longer sufficient to make them profitable.

“The income from bank charges made at ATMs isn’t even sufficient for managing the machines, and it is a lot easier to close the machines than to adjust the workforce,” said one business insider. “This is why ATMs installed outside stores are diminishing as well.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but banks are losing about $1,500 a month to each ATM they have.  Personally I find myself using ATMs less and less due to using a debit card instead of cash.  As mobile payment platforms such as Apple Pay become more popular this will further decrease the need for ATMs.

I just don’t see many of the South Korean chain stores ever making it big outside of Korean-American communities.  Can anyone picture Paris Baguette in major cities when it would be competing against someone like Panera Bread?. Can anyone think of a Korean chain that could make it big in the US?:

Korean firms are scrambling to set up shop in New York City as a litmus test for how ready they are for the global market. With the growing interest in Korean culture in the U.S., they feel this may be the right time to make inroads into the market.

Cosmetics firms are leading the trend. Amore Pacific opened its store at Bloomingdale’s department store in Manhattan last week, a first for a Korean cosmetic firm.

“To succeed in the global market, you first need to advance into New York, the trend-setting city,” said a company spokesman. Amore Pacific opened its first New York store in 2003 and now operates 26 in the city.

Laneige also opened an outlet in a big supermarket in the U.S. last year. Tonymoly started in New York in August last year and already operates six stores there.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but I think a major luxury hotel brand like Lotte has a chance of gaining some market share in major cities but that is about it.  Cosmetics may have a chance of gaining some market share as well, but I think even that will be challenging.

I have not even heard of this company before, but its Korean-American owner was featured in Forbes as one of the most successful self made women:

Thai Lee, a 56-year-old Korean-American businesswoman, has one of the largest female-owned businesses in the U.S., Forbes reported Wednesday.

Lee was featured in the first ever list of America’s “top 50 most successful, self-made women.”

Lee is CEO of Software House International, an unlisted company specializing in software sales and services.

Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, SHI operates about 30 branches in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, and the U.K., as well as in the U.S. With 3,000 staff and 17,500 clients, it had sales of US$6 billion last year, making it one of the top three minority-owned businesses in the U.S.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but good on her for making her company into the billion dollar business it is today.

I did not realize how little of Samsung Electronics that the Lee family actually owned:

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Two key Samsung companies are merging in a step toward ensuring the son of the group’s ailing chairman inherits control of the theme parks to smartphones conglomerate.

Samsung said Tuesday that its defacto holding company Cheil Industries Inc. will acquire Samsung C&T Corp. by offering 0.35 new Cheil shares for every Samsung C&T share.

The move, to be completed by Sept. 1, requires shareholder approval, which is expected. The combined entity will be named Samsung C&T.

Analysts say the transaction will give Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong a big say in the conglomerate including its crown jewel Samsung Electronics Co.

“Samsung Electronics is at the core of this event,” said Park Ju-gun, president at CEOScore, a private corporate watchdog. “If Lee Jae-yong controls C&T, he can secure control over Samsung Electronics.”

The corporate maneuvering reflects that the Lee family’s influence over Samsung Electronics through a life insurance company was at risk as the South Korean parliament is set to pass a law that restricts finance companies from controlling non-finance companies.

Lee, his father Lee Kun-hee and other family members have a small direct stake in Samsung Electronics but have been able to exert influence through cross shareholdings in affiliated companies, the most significant of which was Samsung Life Insurance. Altogether, they control about 29 percent of Samsung Electronics shares, which is the largest voting bloc.

Lee Kun-hee, 73, who remains chairman at Samsung Electronics, has been hospitalized for more than a year after suffering a heart attack in May, 2014. Lee Jae-yong earlier this month took over his father’s roles in two Samsung charitable foundations.

The Lee family will likely take additional steps to enlarge C&T’s stake Samsung Electronics as a lynchpin of the cross shareholdings, said Park. It currently owns 4.1 percent of the electronics giant.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link. 

Samsung's big question: under new leadership, what kind of company does it want to be? http://t.co/NRRcqbZCuF pic.twitter.com/VVnCeJbu0B

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) May 12, 2015

The 20 biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies in the world: http://t.co/eTDPmHxAqC pic.twitter.com/r1R6uQD7dX

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 6, 2015

The Korea Times has an update on the Lone Star issue which has been quiet for about three years, but is now ready to move towards arbitration:

V.V. Veeder, a British national, has been appointed as the presiding arbitrator for a 5-trillion-won international litigation between the Korean government and Lone Star Funds, sources said Tuesday.

He was one of the three arbitrators who ruled in favor of the U.S. buyout firm in 2011 in its dispute with a Korean government owned company.

According to industry sources, Veeder will arbitrate Lone Star’s Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) case against the government, whose first hearing will be held on May 15 at the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington D.C.

In most cases, investment tribunals are composed of three arbitrators; one is appointed by the investor, one by the state, and the third is usually chosen in agreement between the parties. The presiding arbitrator holds the casting vote when the other two fail to agree.

The Dallas-based firm filed an ISDS suit in 2012 for 5.13 trillion won ($4.7 billion), arguing that the Korean government had caused it serious financial damage by delaying its approval for the firm to sell the Korea Exchange Bank from 2007 to 2012.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but basically the crime Lone Star made was that it made too much money in Korea and then tried to take its profits outside of the country.  Their sale of the Korea Exchange Bank led to large protests which caused the government to try and stop the sale any way it can.

Samsung Pay coming to US and South Korea this summer, compatible w/ 30mill … http://t.co/TIfKpI5Tap

— South Korea Daily (@SouthKoreaDaily) March 1, 2015

Here is the latest in the continuing smartphone wars:

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. is gearing up to unveiled its all new flagship smartphone at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, hoping to put the company back in the ring with arch-rival Apple Inc., corporate sources said Sunday.

The flagship, widely expected to be called the Galaxy 6, aims to lay the foundation for Samsung to recapture the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer title that it lost late last year following lackluster sales of its Galaxy S5 and strong sales of Apple’s first large-screen iPhone 6.

The launch is expected to take place at 2:30 a.m. on Monday (Korea time) at a dedicated “Unpacked” event.

Samsung is also hoping that the new smartphone may help it outpace Chinese upstarts, such as Xiaomi Tech and Huawei Technologies Co, which have made strides, particularly in the world’s second-largest economy.

The combination of Apple’s super popular iPhone and challenges by Xiaomi and Huawei caused Samsung to suffer an “earnings shock” last year.

Company sources said that the new Galaxy, which was called “Project Zero” in its development stage, emphasizes a completely new form factor with importance placed on the materials used to make the phone.

In the past, Samsung’s flagships have taken a beating for using “flimsy” plastic, but the company in more recent months has been churning out devices with metal frames, such as the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Alpha, or with all aluminum uni-body designs in the cases of the A3, A5 and A7.

Besides the build quality, Samsung said through official teasers that the new phone will have better internals in the form of a more powerful processor, memory capacity, camera and streamlined software, which will enhance the overall performance and user experience.

The new Galaxy, which could well come in the conventional flat and dual-curbed screen “Edge” variants, will have a Samsung Pay system pre-installed. The system based on LooPay technology allows users to use the phone like a credit card. Unlike Apple’s payment system that requires special terminals, the LooPay arrangement allows it to work with existing credit card readers.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to see if consumers prefer the old credit car technology that Samsung is banking on or the built in Apple Pay technology in the iPhone?

South Korea is really a housing bubble burst away from a major recession considering all the debt that people have tied up in their homes:

Record high household debt, including credit cards, edged closer to 1,090 trillion won ($994.3 billion) in December largely due to the central bank’s cut in the benchmark interest rate.

The Bank of Korea reported on Thursday that household debt at the end of December was 1,089 trillion won, a 2.8 percent increase from the previous record of 1,059.2 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014. When compared to the end of 2013, household debt expanded 6.6 percent from 1,021.4 trillion won.

Overall household debt has set records for seven consecutive quarters.(………………)

“The household debt to disposable income ratio, which is an indicator of households’ debt burden, at the end of 2013 was 160.7 percent, which is relatively high compared to major advanced economies, including the United States,” said Kim Yong-beom, director general of the financial policy bureau at the Financial Services Commission. “But the financial debt to financial asset ratio is holding steady at 46 percent. The government has been making persistent efforts to reform the structure of mortgage loans.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.