For Oriental Brewery Co., October 2011 is a month the nation’s No.1 beer maker cannot forget: It recaptured the title of top brewery by finally edging out its archrival Hite Jinro, which dominated the beer market for about 15 years.Behind OB’s success, company officials agree, was an aggressive marketing push by CEO Jang In-soo, who was nicknamed by news media the “master of sales.” Speaking in an interview with The Korea Herald last week, the 58-year-old CEO picked his “communication” with sale

Businessman Kim Seok-ki and his wife and actress Yoon Suk-hwa have been included on the list of those who established paper companies in tax havens, a local journalists’ group said Thursday.The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit organization also known as Newstapa, released five names ― three businessmen, a university president and an actress ― in its third announcement of the list of Koreans with offshore financial accounts allegedly to operate slush funds or evade taxes. Th

Shinhan Bank’s family-targeted promotions have been increasing in popularity among customers, contributing to its sales growth.Shinhan sold about 1,400 of its “Shinhan Baby Plus Installment Savings” plans, raking in about 5 billion won ($4.4 million) in the past year. “The sales performance for the Baby Plus promotion is constantly growing. Baby Plus is designed to boost the birthrate and support prospective and current mothers,” a Shinhan Bank spokesperson said. The 12-month-maturity installmen

Hana Bank and the Korea Exchange Bank under the Hana Financial Group are stepping up their cooperation in their overseas joint social contributions.In Indonesia, the two banks joined hands to cook and hand-deliver 500 food boxes to households in poor areas in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The Indonesian offices of Hana Bank and KEB came up with the food box run, which closely resonates with “served-hot meal donations,” which has been Koreans’ signature social charity activity. In the proces

Korea and New Zealand started negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement in 2009. But there has been little progress due to differences over certain issues, including Korean farmers’ concern about increased competition.Nevertheless, the head of New Zealand’s trade office in Korea expressed eagerness for a high level free trade agreement with Korea at an early date.“An FTA with Korea will increase trade in both directions. A free trade agreement between New Zealand and Korea is of major impo

INCARINSU, the nation’s top insurance brokerage company, said it was aiming to sell 400 billion won ($350 million) in insurance products for this year.“We will raise the goal to 600 billion won next year, and we will do our best to ensure transparency and corporate ethics throughout our 2 trillion won goal for 2020,” company CEO Choi Byung-chae said. The insurer currently has some 950 branches and about 4,000 sales dealers nationwide. INCARINSU has won awards for job creation, and recently recru