S. KOREA'S FARMERS' CO-OP TO SPIN OFF CREDIT CARD DIVISION

The National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), South Korea's agricultural cooperative lender, plans to spin off its credit card division and launch an insurance business after finishing its ongoing business reorganization, the head of the lender said Tuesday.

The farmers' guild, also known as Nonghyup, is pushing to change the law governing the national agency for some 1,170 regional agricultural cooperatives across the country to split into two entities for consumer credit and agricultural product retailing within the next two years.

The amendment to the law is pending at the National Assembly.

"After finalizing the business restructuring, we will have a time to review our business," said Kim Tae-young, chief of the federation's consumer credit business. "Now we are deferring any decision, but over the long run, we will move toward spinning off our credit card business (into a separate unit)."

Kim also suggested NACF's future expansion into the insurance sector, saying that "after finishing the business restructuring, we will be legally able to make inroads into the insurance market."

The consumer credit head also noted he will review the possibility of taking over or merging with other financial companies depending on how the changes affect NACF's competitive edge.