The financial risks prompted by the slowdown of the commercial real estate market in the US and elsewhere are now spilling over to South Korean banks at a worrying pace, suggesting that they are likely to incur great losses, partly due to their poor investment decisions. According to data from the office of Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the main opposition Democratic, the country’s top five financial groups -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH NongHyup -- invested a total of 20.38 trillion wo

Seoul shares closed lower Thursday as investors attempted to cash in recent gains. The Korean won gained against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 6.62 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at 2,613.80. Trade volume was moderate at 607.8 million shares worth 10.25 trillion won ($7.68 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 539 to 330. Foreigners and institutions sold stocks worth 14.8 billion won and 49.3 billion won, respectively, while individuals purchased

Foreign investors have been active in the South Korean stock market over the past two weeks, contributing to the recent rally in the main KOSPI index, data showed Sunday. Offshore investors scooped up a net total of 5 trillion won ($3.75 billion) worth of local shares from Jan. 29 to Feb. 8, according to the data from the Korea Exchange. Over the same period, the KOSPI rose 5.71 percent to close at 2,620.32 points, while the financial authorities announced plans to boost undervalued stocks. Hyun

Top financial groups here have put forward animated characters as their faces in a bid to woo a wider range of customers. Woori Financial Group has recently brought back its band of animated characters, WiBee Friends, pulling them out of a six-year hiatus. Woori Bank CEO Cho Byung-kyu pushed for the return of the characters, seeing the need to appeal to customers with a softer, friendlier image, according to the firm. With Woori jumping on the bandwagon, all four of Korea’s top financial g

Despite lingering management risks, tech giant Kakao may see a surprise increase in its stock price this year, with analysts bullish on its advertising and commerce businesses. According to market intelligence firm FnGuide, Kakao's target price, provided by more than three analysts, was 69,458 won ($51.90) as of Sunday, up 10.6 percent from 62,783 won recorded at the end of last year, marking the highest increase rate among the target prices of the top 20 firms listed on the Korean stock ma

Reiterates commitment to accelerate digital transformation and create sustainable business value for customers through Infosys Cobalt BENGALURU, India, Feb. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --  Infosys (NSE: INFY), (BSE: INFY), (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced it is celebrating its 25-year partnership with SAP, a global leader in enterprise software and services. The alliance between the two companies continues to help enter

Hana Securities, the brokerage unit of South Korean finance giant Hana Financial Group, on Thursday announced it has established a new foreign investment team. According to the Hana subsidiary, the move comes in response to the recent abolition of the foreign investors' registration system by the local government. Starting in December, South Korea scrapped a 30-year-old policy that required foreign nationals to register with the local financial regulators to open an account and trade on the

As local card issuers struggle to seek new growth engines on foreign ground, a handful saw improvements in 2023. Making a surprise breakthrough overseas last year was Woori Card, which posted a cumulative net profit of around 6.25 billion won ($4.64 million) as of the third quarter through its foreign subsidiaries in Myanmar and Indonesia. The figure was up by almost 78 percent on-year. Driving the flourish was Woori Finance Indonesia, the Korean card company's newly launched Indonesian cor

OCI Group, a chemical, solar power and electric car battery material maker, looks to merge with drugmaker Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, as the two entities seek business synergies to create the Korean version of Bayer, the German chemicals-to-pharmaceuticals giant. On Friday, OCI Holdings and Hanmi Science, the holding units of the two entities, made a surprise announcement that they were merging through a stock acquisition and new share issuances. Under the agreement, OCI Holdings is to acquire a

The leaders of Hana Financial Group and Shinhan Financial Group are headed to the CES 2024, the world's largest consumer technology event slated to open in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo is taking part in the tech event for his second consecutive year. This year, the Hana chief is reportedly taking with him a team of employees in the artificial intelligence sector, in line with the theme of this year's CES, which seeks to highlight the possibilities o

South Korea's top four financial groups -- KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori -- are expected to post a combined net profit of over 17 trillion won ($13 billion) this year, buoyed by their moneylending business, according to market tracker FnGuide. While the four firms posted an estimated net profit of 16.55 trillion won last year, the projected figure for this year is 17.23 trillion won, marking a 4.1 percent growth on-year. Securities firms predicted KB Financial Group to garner a net profit of

HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam sees South Korea as a “good peer” in its plan to achieve developed-country status by 2045, according to Nguyen Anh Tuan, the deputy director general at the Foreign Investment Agency under Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment. “We plan to grow our economy to be a developing country with the GDP per capita in the group of the high-middle income by the year 2030,” Tuan told a group of Korean reporters at the ministry’s headqua

South Korean stocks started a tad higher Wednesday led by gains in tech and financial shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 5.65 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,499.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, U.S. stocks finished mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edging up 0.3 percent. In Seoul, chipmakers lent support to the positive opening, with No. 1 Samsung Electronics rising 0.84 percent and

From left: Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Lee Eun-hyung, Chairman Ham Young-joo and Community Chest of Korea Chairman Kim Byong-joon pose for a photo after the financial group donated 15 billion won ($11.43 million) to the charity's headquarters in central Seoul, Tuesday. Hana's 15 affiliates all contributed to the donation for the underprivileged. The group also received a donation certificate for donating a total of over 90 billion won this year. (Hana Financial Group)

Hana Financial Group CEO Ham Young-joo (center), Vice Chairman Lee Eun-hyung (second from left) and some 300 officials celebrate the group’s 18th anniversary at its headquarters in central Seoul, Friday. During the event, the Hana employees boasted the new slogan "New Hana" to steer the financial giant’s future. Hana promised to take a big step forward, putting importance on a customer-first strategy and corporate social responsibility. (Hana Financial Group)