Woori Finance's global ranking highest among Korean lenders

SEOUL, July 13 (Yonhap) -- Woori Finance Holdings Co., South Korea's No. 2 banking group, ranked 72nd last year on the list of the world's 1,000 largest lenders by core capital, the highest spot among local lenders, the central bank said Wednesday.
A total of nine South Korean banks made the list last year, the same number as the year before, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a report based on the July edition of The Banker magazine.
KB Financial Group, Korea's top financial services company, placed 74th in 2010, down from 69th the previous year. Its rival Shinhan Financial Group Co. rose nine notches to rank 78th last year, the report showed.
Seven financial firms including No. 4 banking group Hana Financial Group Inc. saw their ranking climb from the previous year, while two players' global rankings declined from a year earlier.
The BOK said local banks' capital strength remained sound last year, compared with that of major global banks. But their capital adequacy ratios stayed below those of banks in other advanced countries as global lenders massively replenished their capital to cope with the global financial turmoil.
Nine major South Korean banks' capital adequacy ratios, a gauge of financial soundness, reached an average of 13.65 percent as of the end of 2010, compared with 16.45 percent for U.S. banks and 17.28 percent for Japanese lenders.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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