Shinhan Financial Group, Korea's oldest financial-holding company, has launched a rights issue that will raise up to W1.6 trillion $1.15 billion and will increase the group's share capital by 17%.
The issue means that Shinhan is the first Korean financial institution to seek new capital, following similar moves by Standard Chartered and DBS.
The motivation for the deal, says Shinhan, is pre-emptive to prepare for potential contingencies that may result from the current economic environment. The group says that it is not suffering from liquidity or financial problems, and that it satisfies regulatory capital adequacies ratios CAR.
A note released by Morgan Stanley says that Shinhan's CAR has been of concern to...