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South Korean bank From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kookmin Bank (Korean: 국민은행), also known as KB Kookmin Bank, is a bank headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the largest bank in Korea and the 60th largest in the world as of 2017.[1] The name Kookmin Bank is a contraction of Citizens National Bank, an English name by which it also used to be referred to in the past.
| |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | financial sector  |
| Founded | 1 November 1963 |
| Headquarters | Seoul, South Korea |
Key people | Hur Yin, (CEO) |
| Products | Financial services |
Number of employees | 26,000 |
| Parent | KB Financial Group |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Gukmin/Gungmin Eunhaeng |
| McCune–Reischauer | Kukmin Ŭnhaeng |
| Website | omoney.kbstar.com |
The Citizens National Bank was founded by the Korean government in late 1962,[2]: 43 initially focused on providing financial services for middle- and low-income consumers. Its privatization process was initiated by the sale of a 10 percent stake by initial public offering in 1994.[3]: 35 Meanwhile, Kookmin Bank expanded abroad by opening operations in Luxembourg in 1991, Tokyo in 1992, Singapore in 1994, and Hong Kong in 1996, followed by other locations around the world.[4]
Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Kookmin Bank absorbed a number of distressed or insolvent banks, including Daedong Bank in 1998, then Long-Term Credit Bank as announced on 11 September 1998,[5] then Housing & Commercial Bank in 2001.[6]: 32 In May 1999, Goldman Sachs invested $500 million into KB and became its largest single shareholder with a 17 percent equity stake, ahead of the Korean government which at the time held 7.2 percent.[7] By 2002, Goldman Sachs had sold most of its investment with a significant profit.[8] At that point, Kookmin had become the largest bank in South Korea.[9]: 35 The privatization process was completed in December 2003.[10]: 65
In September 2004, Kookmin Bank said it would restate its 2003 and 2004 earnings after a financial watchdog found that the bank avoided $270 million in taxes.[11]
KB further acquired various companies include credit card, insurance and brokerage firms, transforming into the current financial group in 2008.[12]
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