Public financial enterprises accused of charging excessive interest rates

South Korea’s major financial state-owned corporations turned out to have imposed excessive interest amounts that far exceed the principal upon small-sized debtor businesses, raising skepticism about their “inclusive finance” policy functions, data showed Tuesday. According to data submitted to Rep. Min Hyung-bae, lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and a member of the parliamentary finance committee, the four state-owned companies affiliated with the Financial

EconomyOct. 20, 2020

Seoul shares up for 2nd day on US stimulus hopes; Korean won at 18-month high

South Korean shares rose for a second straight session Tuesday, as investors hold on to hopes for progress in the new US stimulus talks. The Korean won rose to an 18-month high against the US dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.67 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,358.41. Trading volume was moderate at about 862 million shares worth some 11.7 trillion won ($10.3 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 514 to 323. Foreigners boug

MarketOct. 20, 2020

Line Corp. launches banking service in Thailand

Line Corp. announced Tuesday that the company has launched messenger-based banking platform Line BK in Thailand, together with one of the largest banks in the nation. The platform will be operated by joint venture Kasikorn Line, forged by Line Corporation’s subsidiary Line Financial Asia and Thai bank Kasikornbank’s subsidiary Kasikorn Vision Company Limited. Line BK is Line Corporation’s first-ever banking service that allows messenger users to easily transfer money, manag

TechnologyOct. 20, 2020

JPMorgan cuts Kiwoom Securities stake for W26.1b

JPMorgan Asset Management has reduced its stake in South Korean securities brokerage house Kiwoom Securities to cash out 26.1 billion won ($22.9 million), in an apparent profit-making move, a filing showed Tuesday. Since August, Hong Kong-based JPMorgan Asset Management Asia Pacific and five affiliated parties had unloaded a combined 1.11 percent stake in the Seoul-based brokerage house without a brick-and-mortar branches. The transaction cut JPMorgan’s stock holding to 3.9 percent, stee

MarketOct. 20, 2020

OB releases series of goods to drive up beer sales

Oriental Brewery has released a series of goods for beer brands OB Lager, Stella Artois and Budweiser to drive up sales, as interest in drinking-related items grows amid the current pandemic. The brewing company launched an online store dedicated to goods inspired by its long-running mascot Lala Bear last month, including a glass set, a coaster set and a tube-type ice bucket. Stella, a Belgian beer sold by OB, has released a camphor cutting board that can also be used as a plate, while Budweis

ConsumerOct. 20, 2020

SKT launches virtual meetup solution, relocates its AR/VR studio

SK Telecom, one of South Korea‘s leading telecommunications firms, announced Tuesday that the company would begin the global expansion of its virtual and augmented reality service, starting with Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, SKT has partnered with Hong Kong‘s top telecommunications firm PCCW Group, the company announced during an online conference held Tuesday. The two firms will invest in creating AR and VR content too, which will be available via SKT’s virtual and augmented rea

TechnologyOct. 20, 2020

8 out of 9 state-run financial firms have zero female executives

   Women in leadership positions are still rare at South Korea’s state-run financial institutions, despite the government’s policy drive to empower female workers at the public offices, data showed Tuesday.  As of 2019, eight out of nine public financial bodies in the country were found to have zero women at the executive level, with the exception being the Korea Asset Management Corp., in which two women are holding senior management roles, said Rep. Bae Jin-gyo of

EconomyOct. 20, 2020

Hyundai Motor's brand value ranks 5th worldwide

Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday its brand value was ranked fifth among global automakers on its efforts to evolve into a future mobility solutions provider. Hyundai Motor's brand value rose 1 percent to $14.3 billion in 2020 from $14.1 billion a year earlier, the company said, citing global brand consulting firm Interbrand's top 100 brand rankings for this year. Hyundai Motor's brand value ranking was up one notch from the prior year, and it marks the first time for South Korea's leading automa

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

KB Kookmin Bank chief likely to serve third term

Major South Korean bank KB Kookmin’s incumbent CEO is likely to keep his role for another year, as he was tapped by board members on Tuesday as the sole candidate for the position, the firm said. KB Kookmin Bank CEO Hur Yin has been selected by the lender’s holding group KB Financial Group’s affiliate leadership nomination committee to serve his third term as his one-year second term is set to end on Nov. 20. Hur would have to gain approvals from a similar, yet lower committe

MarketOct. 20, 2020

KB Financial issues ESG hybrid bonds worth W500b

Major South Korean banking group KB Financial Group said Tuesday that it has issued 500 billion won ($439.1 million) worth of hybrid bonds focused on environmental, social and governance investment. They are the first won-denominated ESG bonds issued by a banking group here, the firm said. While a growing number of local financial institutions have floated ESG bonds in recent years, it was usually the major banking group’s flagship lenders that handled the business, not the holding compan

MarketOct. 20, 2020

Shared office operator Sparkplus eyes IPO next year

Local office space sharing firm Sparkplus is gearing up for an initial public offering next year, according to company officials on Tuesday. As the company plans to make its debut on the nation’s tech-heavy Kosdaq bourse, it recently chose local brokerage firm Mirae Asset Daewoo as its leading underwriter. However, the exact size of the deal and the date of listing have not yet been decided, the firm said. Sparkplus was jointly established by Aju Hotels & Resorts and accelerator Spar

MarketOct. 20, 2020

Samsung's global brand value ranks 5th for first time

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's leading maker of smartphones and memory chips, said Tuesday its brand value was ranked fifth in the world this year for the first time. Samsung moved up to fifth most-valuable global brand this year with a record value of $62.3 billion, up 2 percent from last year's $61.1 billion, according to Interbrand's latest top 100 best global brands list. This is the first time Samsung ascended to the list of the global top five after initial evaluation of its brand

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

GC Wellbeing’s cancer-induced metabolic disorder treatment aims for 2021 license-out

GC Wellbeing has finished injection of its novel drug pipeline GCWB204 in European clinical phase 2 trial, the company said Tuesday. By the first half of 2021, GC Wellbeing will learn the scope of the drug’s effects and engage in negotiations for licensing it out, it added. GCBWB204 is a novel drug candidate for cancer cachexia, which is a nutritional imbalance in cancer patients that causes muscular atrophy and metabolic disorders. This medical condition can be caused by cancer itself,

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

LG Electronics launches rollable TV in S. Korea for 100m won

LG Electronics Inc. on Tuesday released the world's first rollable TV in South Korea at a jaw-dropping price of 100 million won ($87,000) as the tech giant aims to target high-end consumers amid the pandemic. The company said overseas launch schedules of LG Signature OLED R have not been fixed yet due to the COVID-19 situation in each country. LG said the product, which uses flexible OLED display that leverages self-lighting pixel technology, is designed to deliver a differentiated user expe

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] S. Korea to lift export ban on mask filters

South Korea said Tuesday it will lift the export ban on nonwoven fabrics this week that are used to produce protective masks as the domestic supply of the materials and masks stabilized. Under the decision, the country will lift the regulation that bans firms from exporting more than 15 percent of their production of nonwoven fabrics starting Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Earlier this year, the country ran out of melt-blown nonwoven fabric filters amid soarin

EconomyOct. 20, 2020

[Monitor] Employment drops at SMEs, rises at conglomerates

According to the Korea Small Business Institute and Statistics Korea, the number of employees at small and medium-sized enterprises marked 24.314 million in September, which was 436,000 fewer than a year prior. The number of employees at SMEs continued to drop on-year for the past seven months, largely due to the economic slowdown upon the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of employees at large firms, on the other hand, increased 44,000 in September from to a year prior to reach 2.698 million. B

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

Daewoo Shipbuilding develops world's first metalworking robot

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said Tuesday it has developed an AI robot for metalworking in the construction of ships for the first time in the world. The AI hot working robot, called Goknuri, is now used to shape steel plates into curved ones at the front and the rear of a steel hull in Daewoo Shipbuilding's shipyard in Geoje Island, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul, South Korea's leading shipbuilder said. Hot working is the metalworking process carried out above 800 C

EconomyOct. 20, 2020

Bond, CD issuance in S. Korea swells 14.1% in Q3

Sales of bonds and certificates of deposits (CDs) in South Korea climbed more than 14 percent in the third quarter of the year from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday. The value of those debt instruments issued in the July-September period came to 114 trillion won ($100 billion), up 14.1 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository (KSD). The third-quarter amount, however, was down 14.8 percent from the previous quarter. The KSD didn't give reasons for

EconomyOct. 20, 2020

LG Household tipped to outperform Amorepacific in Q3: poll

LG Household & Health Care Ltd. is estimated to have outperformed industry leader Amorepacific in the third quarter, thanks to a robust growth in the non-cosmetics business, a poll showed Tuesday. South Korea's No. 2 cosmetics company is projected to have logged an operating profit of 320.9 billion won ($281.5 million) in the July-September period, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The figure is abou

IndustryOct. 20, 2020

Seoul shares open nearly flat amid stalled US stimulus talks

South Korean shares opened nearly flat Tuesday amid slower-than-expected progress in the new US stimulus talks. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 1.3 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,348.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment remained risk-averse as negotiations for the fresh US stimulus scheme are showing meaningful progress. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.44 percent to 28,195 on Monday (New York time). The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite inde

MarketOct. 20, 2020