The South Korean government said Wednesday that it will soon announce the results of its inspections into illegal transactions involving expensive real estate in Seoul and the surrounding areas. “Having tracked transactions of expensive houses reported earlier this year, state agencies found some irregularities, and the government will announce the final results in August,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki at a meeting with related ministers. “The

Market Aug. 12, 2020

Sheraton Seoul Palace Gangnam Hotel, the first five-star hotel in Seoul’s posh district of Gangnam, is up for sale again after a sales deal earlier this year fell through due to the new coronavirus pandemic, according to reports Friday. Seojoo Industry Development, a local developer and the current owner of the high-end hotel, has reportedly appointed local brokerage Samsung Securities and real estate services firm CBRE Korea as lead managers of the planned deal. The local developer

Market Aug. 7, 2020

South Korean asset management company Mirae Asset Global Investments said Friday that two new exchange traded funds focused on semiconductors, robots and artificial intelligence businesses in China have been listed on the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing, the sole securities and derivatives exchange in Hong Kong. The Chinese chip sector has been fast growing in recent years in tandem with the growth of IT and internet platform businesses in the local market. Many Chinese companies, especially

Market Aug. 7, 2020

South Korea’s stock market is on a bullish trend, with its main bourse Kospi setting record highs in recent weeks despite lingering concerns over the new coronavirus and its impact on the economy. Buying by foreigners and institutional investors drove the Kospi index to 2,352.48 points in early morning trading Thursday. On Wednesday, the index crossed the 2,300-point mark for the first time since Oct. 2, 2018, and ended at 2,331.86 points. Compared with a low of 1439.43 in March, the

Market Aug. 6, 2020

South Korea’s largest internet-only bank said Wednesday that its number of monthly active users in June surpassed 11 million — the highest in the nation’s entire bank industry. Kakao Bank’s increasing number of users also boosted its earnings in the first half with its net profit standing at 45.3 billion won, nearly five times higher than the 9.6 billion won it posted a year earlier. In the second quarter alone, the net profit came in at 26.8 billion won. Increased

Market Aug. 5, 2020

In its first step since resuming operations, internet-only lender K bank unveiled a mobile mortgage loan service on Tuesday, allowing customers to borrow money without visiting brick-and-mortar banking branches. Utilizing data scraping technology to gather customers’ credit information online, the bank can easily calculate loan limits and interest rates for customers, officials said. It has also reduced the number of documents needed when taking mortgage loans -- the bank only requires

Market Aug. 4, 2020

Viva Republica, operator of mobile fintech platform Toss, said Monday that it has launched a payment gateway subsidiary called Toss Payments. The establishment of the new subsidiary comes after the fintech company reached an agreement with mobile network giant LG Uplus in December, taking over full ownership of the latter’s payment gateway unit. A payment gateway is a service that authorizes credit card payments. With the new subsidiary, Viva Republica aims to take e-commerce payment

Market Aug. 3, 2020

Shares of SK Biopharmaceuticals held by institutional investors will be up for sale Monday after a lockup period, drawing attention to its impact on bio equities that are zooming. According to South Korea’s sole stock securities operator Korea Exchange on Sunday, the lockup banning investors from trading shares after the initial public offering of the company will be lifted. Some 13.2 million shares were allotted to institutional investors right after the drug company was listed on

Market Aug. 2, 2020

D.Camp, a Korean startup accelerator backed by local lenders, on Thursday launched Front 1, a startup incubator that will run a range of support programs for fledgling startups in Seoul. Located in Mapo, the newly launched startup center is the largest in size as an incubator, and is set to house some 100 startups, it said. The startup center is expected to form a startup cluster together with other incubation organizations located in the district, including Seoul Startup Hub and IBK Changg

Market July 30, 2020

Woori Financial Group said Wednesday that it plans to collaborate with telecom giant KT to upgrade its contactless retail services. The partnership followed an agreement signed last month by Woori Financial Group CEO Sohn Tae-seung and KT CEO Koo Hyun-mo, who pledged to strategically deal with market changes triggered by COVID-19. The companies will develop artificial intelligence-powered chatbots for untact -- non-face-to-face contact -- services. With the advanced customer service technol

Market July 29, 2020

South Korea’s first internet-only bank K bank plans to go public in three years, according to industry sources Tuesday. The company recently raised new funds worth some 400 billion won ($334.5 million) by issuing new stocks and convertible preferred stocks with its capital increasing to 900 billion won. “Although the firm’s capital has grown with the new fundraising, it would need additional funds to bring operations back on track,” said a company official. “

Market July 28, 2020

Stock trading transactions on mobile platform Stockplus more than doubled in the first half of the year, mainly due to retail investors, platform operator Dunamu said Tuesday. The transaction volume between in the January-June period rose 117.5 percent on-year, with the accumulated transactions exceeding 100 trillion won ($83.9 billion). The transaction volume reached 24.4 trillion won in the six months, surging from 11.2 trillion won in the same period last year. The figure is even higher t

Market July 28, 2020

This is the first installment in a series of articles and interviews assessing the future of credit cards as a major payment platform and challenges ahead. -- Ed. The rapid growth of mobile payment services is offering wider options for customers, but for the South Korean credit card industry it is both an opportunity and threat. Some naysayers even predict the demise of plastic credit cards that replaced cash payments for years. Fears linger over the possible emergence of a Korean-version of

Market July 26, 2020

Top executives of South Korea’s five major banking giants on Thursday requested authorities to maintain fair regulatory standards amid the fast rise of tech-driven financial services that are relatively loosely regulated. Chairmen from KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, Hana Financial Group and NH Financial Group participated in a meeting with Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo to discuss response measures to counter the new coronavirus

Economy July 23, 2020

The amount of credit loans taken out by individuals sharply increased in June due to the government’s tough regulations on mortgage loans and the recent stock market rallies. According to data released by the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service on Friday, the entire outstanding balance of credit loans at commercial banks and savings banks totaled 3.5 trillion won ($2.9 billion) last month. The amount of loans extended at commercial banks last month, stan

Market July 10, 2020