[Exclusive] OK Savings Bank Becomes Shareholder of Regional Financial Holding Company

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] It has been confirmed that OK Savings Bank has purchased shares of financial companies such as DGB Financial Group and JB Financial Group. The savings bank industry, which had relied solely on interest income, appears to be making efforts to realize non-interest income in various fields such as securities, mainly among large companies.

According to the industry on the 1st, OK Savings Bank signed a block deal contract on the 24th with Apro Financial Loan, a subsidiary under OK Financial Group, and acquired shares of DGB Financial Group, JB Financial Group, NICE, and Leadcorp. Apro Financial Loan operates Rush & Cash.

A block deal is a large-scale trading method conducted between institutions. The price and quantity are predetermined, and a certain stake is bundled and sold in bulk to a specific entity. It is characterized by disposing of shares after the market closes to avoid directly affecting the stock price. For buyers, there is also the advantage of discounted purchases through large-volume transactions.

Excluding fees and taxes, OK Savings Bank spent 109.45474 billion KRW on this contract. They purchased 175,100 shares of DGB Financial Group at 9,700 KRW per share and 7,207,122 shares of JB Financial Group at 8,570 KRW per share. The shares of DGB Financial Group and JB Financial Group held by OK Savings Bank became 5.10% and 6.98%, respectively. They also acquired 1,761,973 shares of NICE Holdings at 16,900 KRW per share and 1,787,117 shares of Leadcorp at 9,220 KRW per share.

Through this contract, Apro Financial will realize a trading profit of 27.66828 billion KRW by transferring its holdings to OK Savings Bank.

For OK Savings Bank, which is continuing its growth with assets exceeding 10 trillion KRW, the dominant interpretation is that additional means for growth momentum were needed. A representative of OK Savings Bank explained, "This was done as part of portfolio diversification," adding, "We expect to secure profitability."

Currently, the savings bank industry faces certain restrictions on securities investments due to the 2011 savings bank crisis. According to the Mutual Savings Bank Business Supervision Regulations, savings banks can hold securities only up to 50% of their own capital. Even for unlisted stocks or corporate bonds, they cannot exceed 10% of their own capital.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.