韩国四大银行因中央集团流动性危机计提约1200亿韩元拨备

Korean banks have booked provisions of about 120 billion won in their second-quarter results related to the liquidity crisis at JoongAng Group. The figure is more than double the 530 billion won provision size initially estimated by the market.
According to financial industry sources on the 12th, Hana Bank and Woori Bank booked provisions of 50 billion won and 45 billion won, respectively, in their second-quarter results related to JoongAng Group. KB Kookmin Bank applied 20 billion won, while Shinhan Bank was reported to have set aside around 5 billion won.
Earlier, the securities and credit rating industries estimated the additional provisions at about 53 billion won, taking into account that these banks' total exposure to JoongAng Group stood at 800.7 billion won. The estimates cited around 30 billion won for Hana Bank, 10 billion won for Woori Bank, 8 billion won for KB Kookmin Bank, and 4 billion won for Shinhan Bank. However, the banks' actual provisioning far exceeded the projections. "Regardless of whether the losses are actually confirmed, expected losses must be reflected preemptively, so conservative risk management was carried out," a bank official explained.
The differences in provisions among banks were influenced by the size of loans extended to JoongAng Group and their collateral structures. The related loan balance at the four major banks, following the group's applications for rehabilitation and workout, is estimated at about 450 billion won. Hana Bank had the largest at 307 billion won, followed by Woori Bank at 111 billion won, KB Kookmin Bank at 22 billion won, and Shinhan Bank at 10 billion won.
JoongAng Ilbo recently submitted a self-rescue plan to its creditors that included the sale of the controlling shareholder's management rights, the disposal of real estate and subsidiaries, and cost cutting. Financial creditors, including main creditor bank Hana Bank, held their first council meeting on the 10th and agreed through a written resolution to launch a corporate restructuring process, or workout, for JoongAng Ilbo. A workout begins with the consent of at least 75 percent based on the amount of financial claims, and the process started after meeting that threshold.
With the workout underway, the final scale of losses is expected to vary depending on the implementation of the self-rescue plan and the results of debt recovery. "Since the situation was largely anticipated, reflecting the provisions in advance was a natural step," a financial industry official said. "Now attention will focus on how much the debt recovery rate can be raised by implementing the self-rescue plan as planned."