Young South Koreans are anticipating the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s version of its state-backed savings account, with a goal of helping investors accrue 100 million won ($80,500). The state-backed savings account would allow South Korean residents aged between 19 and 34 to subscribe and submit a monthly payment of a maximum 700,000 won for a 10-year term, with an annual yield of 3.5 percent, a booklet of Yoon’s presidential pledges published by the People Power Party sh

Market March 15, 2022

A Seoul court on Monday found Hana Financial Group Chairman-nominee Ham Young-joo responsible for Hana Bank’s improper sales of derivatives-linked products that caused a fiasco in 2019 after investors saw huge losses. Defying market expectations, the Seoul Administrative Court found the chairman-nominee and then-Hana Bank CEO guilty of failing to appropriately supervise the bank’s misselling of troubled products to its consumers. The court nodded to the financial authorities&rsquo

Market March 14, 2022

South Korea’s NongHyup Bank has received preliminary approval from India’s financial authorities to establish a branch in the South Asian nation’s planned industrial city of Noida. If the branch is established, it will mark NongHyup’s second business entity in India, after its New Delhi office opened in 2016. The move to open a branch in Noida is part of NongHyup’s plan to have more than 14 business entities in 12 nations across the world by 2025. It opened a bran

Market March 14, 2022

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of exercising his influence on a hiring request at Hana Bank when he was the CEO of the lender in 2015. The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial that kicked off in June 2018 when the prosec

Market March 13, 2022

Hana Financial Group Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo has been cleared of any wrongdoing in the flagship bank’s hiring scandal, removing a major hurdle for him to take the reins of one of the biggest financial groups here. On Friday, the Seoul Western District Court found Ham not guilty of receiving favors in exchange for getting his friend’s son hired at Hana Bank, when he was CEO in 2015. 　 The latest court decision puts an end to a four-year trial which kicked off in June 2018 when

Market March 11, 2022

South Korea’s large financial companies are in agony over President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s election pledge to relocate several bank headquarters outside Seoul. In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s presidential election, then-conservative candidate Yoon made a pledge in both January and earlier this month to relocate the state-run Korea Development Bank to the nation’s southern port city of Busan. He added at a campaign rally in Busan last week that he would make effort

Market March 10, 2022

South Korean households and businesses are at a bigger risk of default compared with previous financial crises, with the pandemic having driven up the pace of borrowing gain, the central bank warned Wednesday. The nation’s real credit gap rate -- the difference between the desired and actual levels of debt for households and businesses -- came to 5.1 percent as of the end of September last year, a Bank of Korea report showed. This surpasses the corresponding figures for the credit card

Economy March 9, 2022

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi and the Korean won tumbled on Tuesday, with surging oil prices triggered by the US-led ban on Russian crude threatening to fuel the intensifying inflationary pressure here. The main bourse Kospi settled 1.09 percent down from the previous session at 2,622.4, falling for the third consecutive day. Foreigners offloaded a net 472.8 billion won ($382.2 million) worth of shares, while institutions sold a net 293 billion won. Retail investors bought a net 732 bi

Market March 8, 2022

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi fell some 2 percent on Monday, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics dropping below the 70,000 won-mark ($57.03) at one point, rattled by the escalating war in Ukraine and surging oil prices. The value of the Korean won weakened against the US greenback, with the local currency surpassing the 1,220 won-mark against the dollar for the first time since June 2, 2020. It closed 12.9 won higher against the dollar from the previous session at 1,227.1 won. The

Market March 7, 2022

Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai was the highest-paid banking CEO last year, taking home an annual salary of 2.4 billion won ($1.98 million), according to annual reports filed by financial firms Sunday. Kim ranked No. 1 in annual salary paid to executives among his peers, with KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo ranking No. 2 with 1.7 billion won and Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung No. 3 with 800 million won. Woori Financial Group has yet to file a similar r

Market March 6, 2022

South Korean retail investors have been on a buying spree of Russia-related exchange-traded funds amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, data showed Sunday. Analysts say that retail investors are hoping for a rebound in Russian stocks once the situation surrounding the Russia-Ukraine war calms down, but warned that the current volatility could be costly for them. Retail investors bought over a net 70 billion won ($57.4 million) worth of Russia-related ETFs sold both locally and ov

Economy March 6, 2022

South Korean asset managers have started suspending the issue and redemption of shares on their Russia-exposed funds as the US and its allies continued to ramp up economic sanctions against Moscow. According to market tracker FnGuide on Wednesday, nine Russia-exposed equity funds, including an exchange-traded fund, with a combined asset of 158.7 billion won ($131.6 million), are being sold by Korean financial institutions. The nine funds have already disappointed investors since the beginning o

Market March 2, 2022

South Korea’s crypto assets market has grown to 55.2 trillion won ($45.9 billion) as of end-2021, with the number of users amounting to nearly 5.58 million, according to a recent study by the nation’s top financial regulator on Tuesday. The Financial Service Commission conducted the study, a first of its kind, based on data compiled from a total of 24 licensed crypto currency exchange operators here. Daily transactions through the 24 exchanges reached 11.3 trillion won on average,

Market March 1, 2022

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has appointed its first female CEO for an affiliate, under an executive reshuffle carried out in line with the nomination of its new Chairman Ham Young-joo. On Monday, Hana said it had tapped Roe Yu-joung, executive director at its flagship commercial lender Hana Bank, to lead its fund accounting arm Hana Investors Services. Roe entered Hana Bank in 1992 and climbed her way up the corporate ladder, becoming the lender’s executive director in Janu

Market March 1, 2022

South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank said Monday it has snapped up a combined 543 billion won ($450 million) commitment to a private fund to finance a 100-megawatt wind turbine project on the southern resort island of Jeju. The private fund, which marks the largest here in terms of those tied to renewable energy, will target 18 offshore wind turbines on Jeju Island, generating a combined 100 megawatts. The value of the total project amounts to 630.3 billion won and the construction of the offsho

Market Feb. 28, 2022