Awards for excellence – Korea

Best Bank:

Kookmin Bank

Best equity house:

Samsung Securities

Best debt house:

CSFB

Best M&A house:

CSFB

Baton charges, tear-gas and the president of Kookmin Bank, Kim Sang Hoon, being taken hostage by his disgruntled workers are just a few of the highlights in the Korean banking sector over the past year. The cleaning up of balance sheets and consolidation goes on and has continued to preoccupy the banks and the government. Jin Nyum, Korea’s finance minister, has said his government will no longer dip its hands into the public coffers to bail out ailing, and now effectively nationalized banks.

Plans are afoot to push the ailing banks under one umbrella and create an even bigger problematic bank.