KB Financial's executives give up this year's stock options

SEOUL, March 23 (Yonhap) -- Executives at KB Financial Group Inc. have decided to give up the stock options to be awarded to them this year as part of an effort to share the burden of the sharply slowing economy, the company said Monday.

KB Financial Group, South Korea's No. 3 financial services firm and the holding
company of top lender Kookmin Bank, is planning to grant its executives up to
250,000 shares for their performance from 2008 to 2011.
The step comes on the heels of a similar move by rival Shinhan Financial Group.
The country's No. 2 financial services firm said Sunday its executives will
abandon stock options they received in mid-March.
Local banks are set to receive a capital infusion by tapping a bank
recapitalization fund in a bid to cushion the impact of a severe economic
downturn and expand lending to the real economy.
Against a bleak economic backdrop, in which wages for new employees are being cut
across the board, the granting of stock options to company executives has drawn
widespread criticism.