Hyundai Card said Wednesday it has joined forces with delivery platform operator Woowa Brothers to launch a credit card that provides tailored benefits for food-delivery service Baedal Minjok. A credit card specifically designed for a food-delivery service is the first of its kind here. Commerce companies and airlines, including eBay Korea, Korean Air and Starbucks Korea, have issued a similar private label credit card. “Baedal Minjok and Hyundai Card will keep working together to offe

Market July 8, 2020

Coworking space giant WeWork said Tuesday that it plans to upgrade its online startup acceleration programs in a bid to support local firms that aim to expand overseas. WeWork Korea held online forums, workshops and conferences this year to connect venture capitalists and industry experts with fledgling startups via its WeWork Labs platform, which offers budding firms access to seasoned experts, investors and other peers through mentoring programs and networking events. WeWork began the Labs

Market July 7, 2020

Amid growing concerns over the security of online payment services, Viva Republica, operator of online bank Toss, said Monday that it would fully compensate its customers who fall victim to any type of financial fraud. The move came after unauthorized payments worth 9.4 million won ($7,860) were made on the financial technology platform in early June, raising questions over the safety of the mobile payment system. “Transactions via Toss should be considered safer than face-to-face bank

Market July 6, 2020

South Korea will likely increase the minimum amount of investment for private equity funds from the current 100 million won ($83,373) to 300 million won as early as next month in its efforts to protect individual investors on the heels of a series of alleged fraud cases linked to funds in South Korea, according to news reports on Sunday. The Ministry of Government Legislation has been reviewing the measure, which will be included in the planned revisions of the nation’s Financial Investm

Market July 5, 2020

The government said Thursday it plans to establish a so-called “bio data station” -- an online data platform for biotechnology -- in a bid to accelerate research and development in the emerging sector. Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki mapped out the plan for the biotech platform at an emergency economic meeting in Seoul. All the data linked to results of state-run research projects will be registered at the online hub for drug development and research projects including

Market July 2, 2020

Riding the wave of contactless service, Kakao Pay Securities, a brokerage backed by mobile messenger operator Kakao, said Wednesday that it would take the stock trading scene to the next level by adding a dab of fun to investment activities and launching easy-to-use services. “Because of high barriers in the investment and financial sectors for the public, there are even new terms being coined, such as geum-al-mot in Korean, to describe financially illiterate people despite high digital

Market July 1, 2020

South Korea’s financial authorities have tentatively concluded that unauthorized payments made on fintech platform Toss were not caused by any security breach, according to sources Tuesday. The Financial Supervisory Services found no proof on alleged hacking attempts, they were quoted by Yonhap News Agency. Adding that illegally obtained personal information may have been used to access Toss and make payments without permission of the account holders. According to the fintech firm, a to

Market June 30, 2020

GC LabCell, a manufacturer of cell therapy products, said on Friday that its US strategic partner Artiva Biotherapeutics has raised $78 million in Series A funding round. Launched in March last year jointly by South Korean drugmaker GC Pharma and GC LabCell, Artiva focuses on research and development of cell therapy drugs and commercialization of GC LabCell’s anti-cancer drugs based on natural killer cells, a type of immune cell in the human body. Among the investors of the funding ro

Market June 26, 2020

Korea Investment & Securities has joined a local alliance to build an artificial intelligence platform for the digital transformation of the financial sector, according to the brokerage firm on Tuesday. The network operator and stock brokerage firm signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop AI systems, a project led by Korean telecommunications giant KT. Launched in February this year, the alliance, dubbed AI One Team, consists of tech giants, universities and state-run res

Market June 23, 2020

South Korea is working on relaxing financial regulations to boost the startup ecosystem by allowing conglomerates to own venture capital firms, according to news reports Monday. The government is also preparing measures to prevent any adverse effects that could arise if deep-pocketed businesses were to own such investment firms. A working group that will be formed by different ministries and government agencies, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Fair Trade Commission and th

Market June 22, 2020

Kakao Bank said Wednesday its customers can now open KB Securities stock trading accounts via its platform. The local brokerage under KB Financial Group is the latest securities company to forge a partnership with the internet-only bank. As of May, Kakao Bank had ushered in some 2 million accounts for two brokerages -- Korea Investment & Securities and NH Investment & Securities. The company said its easy-to-use platform appeal to those in their 20s and 30s, who tend to prefer mobi

Market June 17, 2020

Volatility in South Korea’s stock market rose this week on fears of a second wave of COVID-19 infections and return of foreign and institutional investors seeking to profit from undervalued stocks, analysts said Tuesday. Just a day after the two main domestic stock indexes saw the biggest drop in three months, both spiked over 5 percent Tuesday, causing the bourse operator Korea Exchange to halt stock trading for five minutes in the morning. At the closing bell, Kospi surged 107.23 point

Market June 16, 2020

Hanwha Life Insurance said Monday that it has completed organizational restructuring and promoted young executives in a bid to reinforce its digital technology capabilities. To secure future growth engines, the life insurance firm under Hanwha Group has assigned nine out of 15 business divisions to take the charge of digital transformation of the company and push for new businesses. Of the company’s entire 56 executives, 22 execs will lead the divisions related to digitalization and bus

Market June 16, 2020

Kakao Bank, one of the largest online-only banks in South Korea, has been picked as the most popular workplace among university students here, according to a recent survey Monday. In the survey of 1,045 Korean university students conducted earlier this month by job recruiting portal Incruit, the online bank received 27 percent votes while KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea, gained 18 percent, 14 percent, and 11 percent, respectively. The biggest reasons that studen

Market June 15, 2020

Recent unauthorized payments on money transfer platform Toss are stoking concerns about the safety of payment solutions in general and online financial services available in South Korea. Online purchases worth 9.38 million ($7,770) were made on websites without permission of Toss account holders earlier this month using their personal data. Although initial inspections by the financial authority showed that users’ personal data were not compromised via the fintech platform itself, the i

Market June 14, 2020