Sout Korea - Banks fight proxy war in basketball

From: sport.guardian.co.uk
View source article here.
By Kim Yeon-hee and Jon Herskovitz

ANSAN, South Korea, Jan 26 (Reuters) - South Korea's top banks have taken their battle for dominance of the world's 11th largest economy to the women's basketball court.

The country's biggest three banks, with about $320 billion in deposits, are fighting tooth and nail to lead South Korea's financial markets -- and in a professional basketball league where each has a team and sends legions of its top brass and employees to games against rivals.

Kookmin, Shinhan and Woori banks have been busy poaching top talent from each other, investing heavily in foreign stars and scouring pro leagues in Asia for players.

"We have a really strong feeling that we can't lose to these rival teams from banks," said Ha Eun-joo, a towering 202 cm (6' 8") centre who joined Shinhan this season after playing professionally in Japan.

The women's league is an odd battle ground because games are often played to small crowds in rural gymnasiums. But it is the only place outside the financial industry where the three banks come into direct competition -- and most games are televised.

South Korea' banking sector was crippled by the late 1990s financial crisis. It went through years of mergers and government forced closures to the stage now where the remaining players have only started to become profitable in the last couple of years.

Industrial teams are nothing new for Asia, with top companies in places such as Japan and South Korea sponsoring sports ranging from volleyball to American football. But seldom does the competition in the marketplace spill over to the playing field.

"Our bank is trying to be the strongest in the Korean market. The coach of our basketball team is well aware of this. And this increases our incentive to win," Ha said after the Shinhan Bank S-Birds demolished the Kookmin Bank Savers 81-53 earlier this month in Ansan, about an hour's drive south of Seoul.

DANCING BANKERS, HEATED MARKETS

The game was physical with one player fracturing her wrist and another whistled for a flagrant foul after tackling a player to halt a fast break.

About 150 Shinhan bankers took off of work to dance and sing their way through the game, led by a cheerleader in a button down shirt and a tie. Kookmin Bank officials, disgusted by the loss, would not take questions after the game.

The basketball battles are serving as a microcosm of what is going in on South Korea's banking sector.

Shinhan Bank, a main unit of Shinhan Financial Group <055550.KS>, has been aiming to overtake the country's leading bank Kookmin <060000.KS> in assets.

Shinhan is the newest team in the women's basketball league, which also includes two teams backed by insurance companies and a leading retailer. The team is top in the standings this season.

Upstart Shinhan has made key acquisitions on the court. In the banking sector, Shinhan has narrowed the gap with its bigger rival Kookmin when its parent group agreed last year to acquire a top local credit card firm.

"Since Shinhan Bank had made rapid growth in a short amount of time, there was the perception that the basketball team should follow suit," said Kim Dong-yoon, a bank official who helps manage the team.

Sector leader Kookmin, which has been stung by failing in its plan to acquire a smaller rival, is struggling to put together wins this season -- and win back banking customers from rivals.

Woori, last year's champion and number two in the standings this season, has also repeated its basketball team's achievement in the world of finance.

The country's No. 3 lender logged in the fastest pace of lending expansion in 2006 by opening the biggest number of branches across the country.

"From the perspective of operations, Shinhan and Woori are competing on an equal footing. That has spilled over to basketball matches," said Woori Bank spokesman Jung Heekyung.

Teams have a salary cap of 800 million won ($854,000), but can spend as much as they want for their one foreign player. The Woori Bank team named Hansae, which means "stork" in Korean, landed the biggest catch in the off-season, signing WNBA all-star and Olympic gold medallist Tamika Catchings.

"Games between us are close and it is as if our players are fighting a proxy battle on the court," Jung said.

Shinhan has crafted special financial products linked to its basketball team -- customers can choose a saving plan tied to a player's performance on the court and if that player keeps scoring, the interest rate for the savings account increases.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin, a centre for Shinhan has seen it all on the court -- she's played in the United States and had stints with teams in Luxembourg, Germany, Spain, Greece and Israel.

But South Korea's banking wars caught her by surprise.

"The people that run our team, a lot of them come around when we play Woori Bank or Kookmin," she said. "They always stress it is a big game. It is against a rival bank."