BlackRock's intervention in Asian firms' ESG issues heats up

BlackRock, one of the world’s largest investment management firms, has been increasingly exercising its shareholder rights in Korean firms while shifting its focus towards issues involving environmental, social and governance practices, data showed Friday. The Federation of Korean Industries analyzed shareholder activities of three global institutions -- BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) -- in different regions around the world between July 2018 and June 2020.

May 7, 2021

Naver to expand its R&D network in North America

Naver plans to expand its research and development network in the North American region, particularly focusing on Silicon Valley, as part of its globalization efforts, according to officials. The research team is seeking talent from across the globe who will be allowed to work in either Korea or the US, the South Korean internet giant said at 2021 Naver Search Colloquium which took place online on Friday. Kim Jin-young, the newly appointed Head of Data Science and Director of US R&D at Nav

May 7, 2021

Housing biz sentiment hits 47-month high in May

South Korea's housing market sentiment slightly exceeded par for the first time in 47 months in May on rising hopes of business improvements, a poll showed Friday. The Korea Housing Institute said that its housing business sentiment index (HBSI), based on a survey of about 500 construction companies, amounted to 101.2 for this month. It represents the first time for the HBSI to surpass the 100 level since it stood at 121.8 in June 2017. A reading above 100 means the number of companies foreca

May 7, 2021

Current account surplus slightly narrows in March

South Korea's current account surplus slightly narrowed in March as higher oil prices increased the country's import bill, the central bank said Friday. The current account surplus reached $7.82 billion in March, narrowing from a surplus of $7.94 billion the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The current account is the broadest measure of cross-border trade. Since the country logged a deficit of $3.33 billion in April last year, the largest in almost a decade, on faltering

May 7, 2021

Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Friday, tracking the Wall Street rally that stemmed from improved US unemployment data. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6 points, or 0.19 percent, to reach 3,184.74 points in the first 15 minutes of trading. The Dow Industrial Average gained 0.93 percent to close at a record high for the second session in a row, with the US unemployment data dropping to a pandemic-era low. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics retreate

May 7, 2021

Ex-PM suggests anti-takeover measures for VCs, startups

Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Thursday suggested implementing measures to protect management rights at local venture capital firms and startups, before expanding it to bigger companies. “Korea still lacks institutionalization of anti-takeover measures. I believe the country’s relatively short corporate history is the key reason behind the absence of a poison pill system and dual-class share system,” Chung said at a meeting with chief executive officers of listed fir

May 6, 2021

[Herald Interview] How banking giants can survive the disruption of digitalization

Technology disruption is already playing out among the commercial banking sector in South Korea, triggering a massive transformation of their services to fend off fast-rising online-only banks launched by internet companies with no banking experience. The legacy players are tasked with increasing online presence in the market, in part by moving to establish their own respective online-only lending arms for retail customers. But such investments should be made not just to keep their market leade

May 6, 2021

Roche Diagnostics receives approval for COVID-19 test

Roche Diagnostics Korea announced Thursday that the company has received approval for the cobas test, an assay used to specifically detect the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in laboratories settings. According to Roche, the cobas test is capable of qualitative detection and differentiation between SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A and Influenza B present in nasal swab samples collected from individuals suspected of a respiratory infection. Roche’s laboratory-based assay cobas SARS

May 6, 2021

Samsung’s foundry biz enhances chip packaging tech

Amid the heightening competition in the global chip foundry market, Samsung Electronics unveiled a new packaging technology Thursday that would help differentiate its foundry service.  Samsung said it has completed the development of the next-generation 2.5D packaging technology named Interposer-Cube4, or I-Cube4, which is immediately available for customers. Samsung’s I-Cube is a heterogeneous integration technology that horizontally places one or more logic dies, such as a CPU or

May 6, 2021

Dunamu steps up efforts to protect crypto investors

Dunamu, an operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, said Thursday that it will spend 10 billion won ($8.9 million) to set up a unit to protect crypto coin investors. The planned launch of the in-house unit, tentatively named Upbit protection center for digital asset investors, is part of the company’s efforts to join the environment, social and governance trend, which has been gaining traction worldwide recently. In addition to the establishment of the investor protection center this ye

May 6, 2021

Doosan Heavy to extract hydrogen from plastic waste

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will transform plastic waste into gases by heating it up, and extract hydrogen from those gases, the company said Thursday. Seeking to jointly develop the hydrogen extraction system, Doosan Heavy has partnered with RevoTech, a local plastic pyrolysis firm which possesses the technology involved in feeding plastic waste non-stop into heating equipment. The initial goal is to develop within the year a hydrogen reformer that can produce 0.3 metric ton

May 6, 2021

[Herald Interview] American Manganese on lookout for opportunities in Korea

American Manganese, a Vancouver-based critical metals company, is seeking to tap into the South Korean battery market with its exclusive technology to extract key metals from defective batteries. In an interview with The Korea Herald, its chief executive officer Larry Reaugh and chief technology officer Zarko Meseldzija revealed that the firm is in talks with multiple companies for partnership in Korea, home to three of the world’s leading lithium-ion battery makers. “We are th

May 6, 2021

Seoul stocks advance on hopes for global economic recovery

South Korean stocks advanced Thursday as hopes for a global economic rebound offset inflation worries. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 31.37 points, or 1 percent, to close at 3,178.74 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.2 billion shares worth some 16.4 trillion won ($14.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 733 to 157. Foreigners sold a net 99 billion won, extending their selling streak to a seventh sess

May 6, 2021

Kakao’s Q1 profit hits record high on mobility, fintech business growth

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top messaging app KakaoTalk, posted a record-breaking revenue of 1.25 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for the first quarter, up 45 percent from a year earlier, the company said Thursday. Its operating profit also rose by 79 percent to a record-breaking 157.5 billion won during the same period, largely on the back of its taxi-hailing and digital wallet services. The relatively new platform business, including Talk Biz, Portal Biz and New Business, ra

May 6, 2021

Citibank Korea vows to stay committed to local market

   Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup, has pledged to continue its role in supporting the country’s financial system, regardless of its parent company’s plan to withdraw retail banking operations in the nation, the lender said Thursday. Last month, the US banking giant announced that it would exit its consumer banking units in Australia, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Taiwan and Thailand, as part of its

May 6, 2021

S. Korea's debt risk premium at lowest since global financial crisis

The cost of insuring South Korea's sovereign debt against default fell to the lowest level this week since the 2008-09 global financial crisis as the country's economy is recovering faster from the pandemic, the finance ministry said Thursday. The spread on credit default swaps (CDSs) for South Korea's 5-year dollar-denominated currency stabilization bonds came in at 19 basis points Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. It marked the lowest since April 2007, when the cou

May 6, 2021

KT to form AI lab with IBM Korea and Woori Bank

KT Corp., a South Korean telecom giant, said Thursday it has formed business ties with IBM Korea and local major banking firm Woori Bank to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology for financial services. The three will establish an AI lab to develop new services, such as an AI-based language model specifically designed for the financial sector and an asset management system that uses AI technology to make quick and accurate market predictions, according to a statement from the telecom o

May 6, 2021

Online shopping at 2nd-highest point in March amid contactless trend

Online shopping in South Korea continued to soar in March as more people bought goods via e-commerce platforms amid a non-contact consumption trend caused by the pandemic, data showed Thursday. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 15.9 trillion won ($14.1 billion) in March, up 26.4 percent from 12.6 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The March tally marks the second-highest monthly reading since December last year when the comparable figu

May 6, 2021

Imported auto sales rise 12% in April despite pandemic

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 12 percent in April from a year earlier on robust sales of German cars, an industry association said Thursday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles climbed to 25,578 units last month from 22,945 a year ago despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. The three bestselling models last month were Mercedes-Benz's E 250 sedan, E350 4MATIC sedan and GLE 450 4MATIC

May 6, 2021

Tax incentives eyed for chipmakers: finance minister

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Thursday the government will consider expanding tax credit programs for chipmaking-related research and development (R&D) and facility investment to nurture the non-memory chipmaking industry. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said the government is studying ways to increase tax benefits and policy support for the semiconductor industry to help local chipmakers sharpen their competitive edges. The country plans to set up a 280 billion-won ($248 mill

May 6, 2021