KB Financial seeking to buy a life insurer

Chairman says group is interested in Woori’s brokerage unit


KB Financial Group wants to take over a life insurance company in its efforts to push for M&As in the non-banking sector, its chairman said on Tuesday.

Chairman Euh Yoon-dae also said the group is still interested in Woori Investment & Securities in terms of a merger, while it has not participated in the bidding competition to acquire Woori Financial Group.

The group chairman, who took office a year ago, unveiled his management directions in a press conference in downtown Seoul.

“Though we (still) have great interest in Woori Investment, we are not allowed to take it over under (the government’s) scheduled packaged deal,” he said.

Under the packaged deal, the government plans to hand over most units of the state-controlled Woori Financial Group to an investor.

Euh also downplayed the possibility that KB Financial will invest in any of the three private equity funds that submitted letters of intention to buy Woori Financial in late June.

He said the group is promoting acquisition of a life insurer after KB Financial failed to buy ING Life Insurance. “Our majority shareholder ING Group has rejected our proposal to sell the insurance unit to KB.”

He commented on the credit card sector, which has been spun off from Kookmin Bank and pushed up the ratio of the group’s non-banking business units to about 20 percent.

Concerning the anxiety among a group of critics that KB Kookmin Card could invite excessive competition in the saturated credit card industry, he stressed that he is instructing the staff to prioritize risk management rather than focusing on higher market share.

The KB chairman also expressed his commitment to buying several ailing savings banks while the government has already asked major financial groups to invest in the secondary banking industry as a rescue project.

He played down market worries that the takeover of debt-ridden savings banks will undermine the financial soundness of KB Financial. He cited the M&A method of purchase and assumption.

Under the P&A, unlike in an ordinary M&A, buyers are entitled to acquire only the viable assets, not all of them, on a selective basis.

Euh said he hopes to shift Kookmin Bank’s brand image as energetic and creative by actively attracting younger customers including college students.

He also said the group’s flagship banking unit will pour more investments into its private banking business.

“While attracting wealthy customers through the PB, we would still not neglect the consumer lending to the low- and middle-income brackets,” he said.

He forecast that KB’s stock prices will climb when uncertainties in the global financial market are resolved and the group successfully disposes of its treasury shares.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)