South Korea Regulator May Rule On HSBC-KEB Deal in September

SEOUL -- South Korea's financial regulator said Friday it might decide in September whether to approve a deal for HSBC Holdings PLC to acquire control of the country's seventh-largest bank, a break for the prolonged transaction that has come to symbolize the difficulties foreign investors sometimes experience here.

The announcement leaves London-based HSBC and the lead shareholder of Korea Exchange Bank, Lone Star Funds of the U.S., to decide whether to extend their self-imposed deadline of July 31 for finishing the $6.3 billion deal.

They reached terms last September and aimed to finish the transaction in April. But they extended ...