Financial regulator halts review of KT's plan to raise stake in K bank

Published : Apr 17, 2019 - 20:13 Updated : Apr 17, 2019 - 20:14

The financial regulator said Wednesday it has halted its review of a plan by KT Corp. to raise its stake in Internet-only K bank, citing an anti-trust inspection into the telecom firm.

KT, the nation’s biggest fixed-line Internet operator, asked the Financial Services Commission to review its plan last month as it seeks to a larger stake in K bank, which was launched in 2017 by a KT-led consortium.

K bank has planned to raise 592 billion won ($522 million) later this month via a rights offering.

(Yonhap)

In a statement, the FSC said it decided to suspend the review because the Fair Trade Commission, the country‘s corporate watchdog, is investigating into an allegation that KT violated an anti-trust law.

In January, a law came into force allowing information technology firms to hold as much as a 34-percent stake in an Internet-only bank.

However, the law prohibits a shareholder of an Internet-only bank from raising a stake in the bank if the shareholder is punished for violating an antitrust law. (Yonhap)