Proactive Measures
The KB Financial Group is currently having talks with a consortium of Tsesnabank in Kazakhstan in order to sell its shares in Bank Center Credit (BCC). The KB Financial Group is planning to complete the procedure before the end of the first half of this year.
The group acquired BCC for 954.1 billion won in 2008. However, the acquired bank became insolvent without any meaningful business due to the global financial crisis at that time. The group is expected to be able to recover at least some of its losses once the BCC is sold to the consortium.
The KB Financial Group is also planning to dispose of its 1.75 million shares in SK as soon as possible. “Once IFRS 9 becomes effective next year, one-off profits derived from stock sale are not reflected in income statements but classified as surplus profits,” the group explained, adding, “Then, our net profit or ROE can be affected.”
Experts point out that the KB Financial Group will increase its shares in KB Insurance for gains on a bargain purchase although the company recently announced that nothing had been fixed about it. According to the experts, the group is likely to buy KB Insurance shares in the market after selling its own shares or exchange the shares of KB Insurance and itself with each other for the same purpose.
These moves are to rise back to the top in the financial market of South Korea before the retirement of chairman Yoon Jong-kyu. At present, he is praised as having contributed to the stability of the group.