Market looks ahead to ‘post-coronavirus’ proxy season in March

This year’s March proxy season is to herald unprecedented scenes, including virtual meetings, e-voting systems and the rising presence of environmentally friendly corporate policy frames -- reflecting the COVID-19 pandemic situation. While top-tier conglomerates swiftly moved to adjust the date and format of their upcoming shareholders meetings, smaller businesses were observed struggling with epidemic-caused new market norms. Of the 2,350 listed companies on South Korea’s bench

IndustryMarch 1, 2021

Homeplus to sell cars, offer EV charging services

Homeplus will sell cars and install electric vehicle charging stations, as part of its efforts to provide more reasons for customers to visit its physical stores other than grocery shopping, the hypermarket chain said Monday. Homeplus’ plans for the new mobility service platform cover a wide range of services, and it is currently taking preorders for two electric motorcycles from DNA Motors -- EM-1 and Zappy 1 -- and preparing to launch a rental service, the company said. “By of

ConsumerMarch 1, 2021

[Herald Interview] Tailored foreign investing advice gets new twist

Collector of Korean art, TV celebrity, motivational speaker and investment adviser -- those are just a few of the titles Mark Tetto, 40, has under his belt. After about 10 years of living in Seoul, the Italian American multihyphenate is taking on a new challenge in leading Topor & Co. Korea, one of the first investment advisers in South Korea that handles private wealth management for wealthy families. In the past five years as a partner at TCK, his primary focus was to manage a globally d

MarketMarch 1, 2021

[Photo News] Samsung Electro-Mechanics introduces new optical zoom

Samsung Electro-Mechanics officials present its folded, 10x optical zoom camera module for smartphones. The company on Monday announced it will begin mass production of the technology, claiming to be the first South Korean maker to do so. Folded zoom technology allows phone makers to minimize the camera’s protrusion in smartphones.  By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)

TechnologyMarch 1, 2021

Boys no longer preferred

Statistics Korea’s data on Monday showed the male ratio at birth in South Korea fell to the lowest level last year, implicating the end of the country’s long-held tradition of boy preference. The gender ratio at birth, or the number of baby boys per every 100 baby girls born, stood at 104.9 in 2020 -- the lowest since the institution started to collect related data in 1990. The figure is close to a natural level observed worldwide of about 105 boys to every 100 girls. This repres

IndustryMarch 1, 2021

Netflix to start publishing audit report this year

Netflix Korea will disclose its audit reports in March, which would be its first regulatory filing since entering the country in 2016. The local unit of the US media platform giant is incorporated as a limited liability company here, but has become newly subject to disclosure rules applied for publicly traded firms. The change is due to the effectuation last year of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, amended in 2017 to enhance business transparency and p

TechnologyMarch 1, 2021

Pension funds extend stock selling streak to 42nd straight session

South Korean pension funds logged a record-long selling spree of local stocks, extending net selloffs to a 42nd consecutive session. While the unloading trend extended during a recent market correction period, experts predict their selling will likely to continue at least until June this year. The combined net sales of the pension funds came to 12.98 trillion won ($11.57 billion) so far this year. In February, they sold a net 4.58 trillion won -- 4.32 trillion won on the main bourse Kospi an

MarketMarch 1, 2021

Philip Morris Korea wins legal battle against tax authority over trademark fees

Philip Morris Korea has won a legal battle worth billions of won against the country’s tax authority over trademark usage fees, according to legal sources. The Seoul Administrative Court on Monday ruled in favor of the South Korean unit of the international tobacco company, ordering a tax imposed by Seoul Main Customs worth 9.82 billion won ($8.7 million) to be canceled. The ruling comes four years after the Korea Customs Service ordered the company to pay some 3.4 billion won in customs

ConsumerMarch 1, 2021

S. Korea, Switzerland extend W11tr currency swap deal until 2026

The Bank of Korea said Monday it has agreed with Switzerland’s central bank to extend their bilateral currency swap arrangements for another five years, as part of a move to further bolster financial cooperation. The currency swap deal totaling at 11.2 trillion won ($10.1 billion), which was set to end on Monday, will last until March 2026, according to the BOK. “The extension of the currency swap deal aims to enhance bilateral relations in the area of finance and to strengthen f

EconomyMarch 1, 2021

Asia markets stage rebound after last week's rout

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Equities rose in Asia on Monday as investors took a breather following last week's heavy selling, with a drop in US Treasury yields giving markets some much-needed stability, while the passage of Joe Biden's stimulus through the House provided some cheer. However, observers warned that trading floors were still gripped by fears the expected global economic recovery will fuel inflation and force a hike in interest rates earlier than previously thought, removing a key pillar of

MarketMarch 1, 2021

[Graphic News] Online food sales see explosive growth in S. Korea

　South Korea’s online food market posted explosive growth in 2020 from a year earlier due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed. 　The value of online food transactions in Asia's fourth-largest economy came to 43.4 trillion won ($39.2 billion) last year, up 62.4 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea and industry sources. 　The online food market surpassed the 40 trillion-won mark last year after reaching 26.7 trillion won the previous

BusinessMarch 1, 2021

Exports recovery on roll in Feb. on chip sales, outlook bright for further improvement

South Korea's exports rose 9.5 percent in February from a year earlier to extend their gains for the fourth consecutive month on robust shipments of chips, autos and other key products, data showed Monday. Exports came to $44.8 billion last month, compared with $40.9 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Imports rose 13.9 percent to $42.1 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $2.71 billion. It marked the 10th consecutive month

EconomyMarch 1, 2021

S. Korea, Switzerland agree to extend currency swap deal for 5 years

South Korea and Switzerland have agreed to extend their bilateral currency swap deal that helps expand financial exchanges between the two countries, Seoul's central bank said Monday. The 11.2 trillion-won ($10.1 billion) currency swap, which had been scheduled to expire today, will be put in place for another 5 years, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a statement. The swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between the two central banks under a limit

EconomyMarch 1, 2021

Institutional investors bet on stock market decline

Amid lingering market uncertainties alongside rising US Treasury yields, local institutional investors seem to have started betting against the equity market, investing in inverse exchange traded funds. Inverse ETFs are designed to make money when target stocks or underlying indexes decline in value. According to data compiled by the nation’s sole securities exchange operator Korea Exchange, investment companies, including stock brokers, bought some 200 billion-won ($177.6 million) wor

MarketFeb. 28, 2021

Demand for Seoul apartments down slightly: report

Demand for apartments in Seoul inched down last week, data showed, after the government rolled out a series of supply measures Feb. 4. According to data collected by the state-run Korea Appraisal Board, an index that gauges supply and demand for apartments dropped by 0.8 points to 109.8 last week, compared with 110.6 marked in the previous week. A rating above 100 means demand exceeds supply. After seeing bouts of fluctuations, the index had risen for 10 straight weeks since the last week o

MarketFeb. 28, 2021

Fashion brand Badblood under fire for ‘blackfishing’ on Instagram

Women’s loungewear brand Badblood has been forced to apologize for darkening the skin of one of its models amid accusations of blackfishing. In a recent Instagram post, the brand offered its “sincere apologies” and asked for the “benefit of the doubt” after taking down the controversial post. “By increasing the contrast between our clothes and that of the model, we unfortunately thought our clothes would look even better,” the company said. The apolog

ConsumerFeb. 28, 2021

Green Cross affiliate secures $120m investment

Artiva Biotherapeutics, an affiliate of South Korean pharmaceutical firm Green Cross, announced Sunday that it has secured $120 million in Series B financing to develop natural killer (NK) cell-based cancer therapies. Artiva Biotherapeutics said its new investor Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners has led the latest financing. Other new investors include Acuta Capital Partners, Cormorant Asset Management, EcoR1 Capital, Franklin Templeton, according to the company. The injection of fresh cap

TechnologyFeb. 28, 2021

Celltrion founder’s first son to join boardroom

Celltrion founder and honorary chairman Seo Jung-jin’s eldest son Seo Jin-seok is expected to obtain a seat in the company’s boardroom next month, industry sources said on Sunday. Celltrion is to finalize the appointment of the junior Seo as executive director at the shareholder meeting scheduled on March 26, the sources added. The first son has been serving as senior vice president for Celltrion since 2017. Seo Jin-seok also spearheaded Celltrion Skin Cure, the group’s cos

TechnologyFeb. 28, 2021

Drone delivery service kicks off to deliver items to ships near Busan Port

While the COVID-19 pandemic has impeded the transfer of goods via ship, with stricter rules to limit the number of crew members boarding and coming ashore, a small South Korean venture company is offering a new kind of delivery service using drones. Marine Drone Tech, a drone logistics company based in Busan, is the first company in Korea to officially register a maritime drone delivery service. It received its business registration certificate from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Tr

IndustryFeb. 28, 2021

S. Korea retains position as 7th largest exporter in 2020

Despite the fallout from the ongoing trade dispute and COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea retained its position as the world’s seventh-largest exporter in 2020, showed data released by the World Trade Organization on Sunday. According to the WTO report on trade trends of major economies in 2020, Korea’s ranking in global trade was in seventh place last year, unchanged from the previous year. Asia’s fourth largest economy accounted for 3.1 percent of world exports, following Ch

IndustryFeb. 28, 2021