Alert credit card companies in Korea. Biometric technology using facial, iris, voice, fingerprint and finger vein recognition could halve the current money transfer costs through credit card and mobile transactions totaling at 2.7 trillion won ($2.2 billion) annually, Boston Consulting Group said Friday in a report. “The 2.7 trillion won is an approximation of the sum of 290 million hours and 110.7 million square meters, time and space annually needed to process payments in the convention

Technology Feb. 18, 2022

The Korea Exchange said Thursday that it has put Osstem Implant under review to determine whether to delist the company amid a probe into a massive embezzlement scandal.  A review committee will convene a meeting in March to make a decision on whether to allow the implant maker to continue trading or grant it a one-year grace period. Listed companies are suspended from trading and face delisting if they report embezzlement exceeding 5 percent of their equity. Osstem Implant was

Market Feb. 17, 2022

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki was supremely confident in November last year when he said the government would consult index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International on having the country reclassified as a developed market from its current emerging market status. The government’s drive to receive MSCI’s highest recognition is not new, as it has been pursuing it for the last 14 years. Seoul first floated the idea in 2008 to remove underlying market volatility of Asia’s four

Market Feb. 17, 2022

Morgan Stanley Capital International, the world’s largest index provider, could reclassify South Korea as a developed market from the current emerging market status as early as 2024, if Seoul works to internationalize currency markets, Goldman Sachs said Monday in a report. “If Korea addresses MSCI market accessibility concerns, it could be placed on the annual review watchlist this June,” the report said, referring to a necessary step before Korea can be officially included i

Market Feb. 14, 2022

Foreigners were net sellers of Korean shares in January, ending their buying spree in December last year as investor appetite soured on signals from the US Federal Reserve that it was accelerating its policy tightening measures, data showed Monday. In January, foreigners offloaded a net 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in shares, having bought 629 billion won in the benchmark Kospi market while shedding 2.3 trillion won in the junior Kosdaq. They purchased bonds of 3.6 trillion won in the same p

Market Feb. 14, 2022

South Korea’s four major bank holding firms are expected to hand out record-high dividends for their highest net profits made last year thanks to a pandemic recovery, officials said Sunday. Total dividends from the four companies -- KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group and Woori Financial Group -- are estimated to be 3.8 trillion won ($3.1 billion), about 26 percent of the combined net profit of 14.5 trillion won. “We have enough capital flowing in to c

Economy Feb. 13, 2022

Korean investors are pulling out money from their investment accounts to reallocate it to safer options such as money market funds as they seek to ride out volatility gripping the local stock market, data showed Sunday. As of Thursday, credit-backed loans for stock investments stood at 21 trillion won ($17.5 billion), down about 4 trillion won from a record high of 25 trillion won in September last year. Since then, the deposit borrowed from brokerages on investors’ credit has been shri

Market Feb. 7, 2022

Goldman Sachs expects the Bank of Korea to raise its benchmark rate twice more in the second half of this year to 1.75 percent, and later continue hikes to 2.5 percent, according to a report published by the US bank Friday. “We continue to expect the rate curve to steepen along with gradual monetary policy normalization,” the report said. Korea continues to see elevated inflation but the risk is contained by moderating import prices, weakening housing prices, and measures to counte

Economy Feb. 4, 2022

The market debut of LG Energy Solution last month was literally a festive event, with investors in and out of the country pouring in an astronomical sum of money to buy new shares of the company eyeing to be the world’s top battery maker. But shareholder rights activists in South Korea say that the mega deal was another case in which a split-off was done intentionally to take the battery subsidiary public, a process that undermined the interests of parent company shareholders.

Market Feb. 4, 2022

South Korean consumers are ramping up credit and debit card balances and their spending could exceed 1,000 trillion won ($832 billion) for the first time this year, data showed Friday. South Koreans spent 977 trillion won on credit and debit cards last year, up 10 percent from the previous year. The uptrend in spending has been the norm since 2018, when it totaled at 810 trillion won, according to the Credit Finance Association, a group of local card companies. “COVID-19 is accelerating

Economy Feb. 4, 2022

South Korea ranked fifth among 47 countries globally in the drop in stock market capitalization between December last year and January this year, amid US Fed rate hike worries, a local brokerage said Wednesday.　 The country’s benchmark Kospi and junior Kosdaq stood at about $1.9 trillion in market value on Jan. 26, down from $2.1 trillion on Dec. 31, 2021, in a 10 percent fall, according to Daishin Securities, which cited Bloomberg data. Russia saw the greatest drop at 16 percent, followe

Market Feb. 2, 2022

LG Energy Solution became South Korea’s second-most valuable company, as the electric vehicle battery maker began trading shares on the benchmark Kospi well above the initial public offering price of 300,000 won ($250) apiece on its debut Thursday. The shares closed at 505,000 won after hitting 598,000 won, falling short of reaching the daily price ceiling of 780,000 won.   But shares on the company’s market debut day put its market value at 118 trillion won, second only to Sam

Market Jan. 27, 2022

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday granted an injunction to local private equity firm Hahn & Co. to stop Namyang Dairy Products from selling a majority stake to a third company. 　 The court ruled that Namyang should cut all ties to Dayou Winia Group. It had attempted to sell a majority stake in a deal reached with Dayou in November last year, effectively freezing out Hahn & Co., with which it had previously agreed to sell the stake. Namyang had tried to fill its key position

Economy Jan. 26, 2022

The Korea Exchange will work to bring about a transparent market that affords retail investors better protection from market abusers and helps companies find the support they need to go public and compete with global peers, the bourse operator’s chief said Monday. “We see rebuilding market trust as key to that mission. This is an unprecedented time in that we have so much attention drawn to us,” Chairman and CEO Sohn Byung-doo said at a press conference, referring to recent ro

Market Jan. 25, 2022

Worries over the sooner-than-expected rate hike by the US led South Korea’s benchmark Kospi to dip below 2,800 Monday, a first since Dec. 23, 2020, when it closed at 2,759. The Kospi fell 42.29 points or 1.49 percent from Friday to close at 2,792, sparking concerns over a prolonged slump. “Investors fear reduced liquidity. And the markets are catching up with the Fed, which has signaled two things: an earlier rate hike and tapering of the pandemic-era market support,” said Oh

Market Jan. 24, 2022