Viva Republica, South Korea’s leading financial technology company, announced Monday that it would eliminate transaction fees for Toss users, as it gears up for growing competition with internet-only banks and other fintech firms. The app Toss, which handles up to 2 million won ($1,730) at any given time, previously charged 500 won for each money transfer after providing the first 10 transfers free. But starting from Monday, Toss users can transfer money at no cost. The move comes as

Market Aug. 2, 2021

Acquiring additional shares in Starbucks Korea could boost E-mart’s operating profit to near 1 trillion won ($864.4 million) within years, analysts said Wednesday. Several analysts praised E-mart’s decision to buy an additional stake in Starbucks Korea, which will become a subsidiary of the supermarket chain once the deal is closed. On Tuesday, E-mart, the supermarket chain under retail giant Shinsegae Group, announced that it bought an additional 17.5 percent stake in Starbu

Market July 28, 2021

South Korea’s mobile-only KakaoBank attracted nearly 58 trillion won ($50.21 billion) from retail investors during the two-day subscription for its much anticipated public listing, falling short of market expectations of setting a new record. The company drew 57.78 trillion won in deposits for the stock offering from some 1.86 million retail investors via the four IPO managers -- KB Securities, Korea Investment and Securities, Hana Financial Investment, Hyundai Motor Securities. The su

Market July 27, 2021

Retail giant Shinsegae Group’s affiliate Emart, which holds a 50 percent stake in Starbucks Korea, is in talks to buy the remaining 50 percent held by the headquarters of the global coffee chain, the company said Monday. Shinsegae’s hypermarket chain unit Emart is reportedly seeking to raise its stake in the Korean unit of Starbucks from the current 50 percent to 70 percent while Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC will buy a 30 percent stake. While revealing the ongoin

Market July 26, 2021

Government-backed coins and private cryptocurrencies will coexist for a while, despite rising regulatory walls set by the government to counter virtual coins, experts at a global webinar session said Thursday.　 Noting that cryptocurrencies and digital currencies by governments are “two different animals,” they will coexist for now partly because current cryptocurrencies are not actually solving payment problems. “How many of them (cryptocurrencies) are solving actual paym

Economy July 22, 2021

Samsung Electronics, which holds one-fifth of the South Korean stock market’s value, has been suffering continuous price declines in recent weeks, hitting the second lowest mark of the year on Tuesday. The stock price of the world’s largest chipmaker fell as low as 78,400 won ($68.30) earlier on Tuesday, before closing at 79,000 won, the second lowest level this year. Compared to 96,800 won six months ago, the price level is 18 percent lower. On hopes for an economic recovery, ma

Market July 20, 2021

The majority of cryptocurrencies, which enjoyed records highs only three months ago, are on the downswing, with many of them halving, market data showed Sunday. Out of 102 digital coins listed on Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, only one coin was up since April. Among the 101 coins that lost value, 84 of them plummeted more than 50 percent from three months ago. AXS, developed by Axie Infinity, was the only digital coin that bucked the trend, rising more than 150

Market July 18, 2021

Toss Securities, the brokerage arm of fintech company Viva Republica, on Thursday said that it launched a stock gifting service to make investing easier. The new service allows users to give away their stocks to others, just by submitting a real name and phone number, like they do to virtually send coffee or other presents via mobile messenger service KakaoTalk. The company said the new service is part of the company‘s efforts to expand market access for new investors. Earlier this

Market July 15, 2021

More than 90 percent of young Koreans in their 20s and 30s use fintech platforms for money transfers instead of going to bank branches, a survey showed Monday. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Fintech Industry Association, about 96 percent of respondents said they use a financial technology platform developed by nonfinancial companies such as Kakao, Naver and Toss, while 60 percent said they use banking apps. The survey asked 2,000 people in their 20s and 30s who use payment ser

Market July 15, 2021

The Investor, the financial news platform run by The Korea Herald, is to jointly hold a webinar on government-backed digital currencies and the future of cryptocurrencies next week. As a co-host, The Investor joins with the Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 national media outlets in 20 Asian countries, to discuss the prospect of digital currencies and their role in decentralized finance in the post-COVID era. The Star of Malaysia, also an ANN member, participates as a co-host of the virtu

Economy July 14, 2021

Cryptocurrencies remained in negative territory for a second day on Wednesday, with investor sentiment indicators hinting fear amid toughened regulations by financial watchdogs across the globe. South Korea‘s digital asset exchange Upbit operator Dunamu’s Digital Asset Fear and Greed Index -- standing at 29.76 on Wednesday, the lowest in 18 days -- showed that investors were gripped by fear for the tenth consecutive day on Wednesday. An index figure between 20 and 40 means market

Market July 14, 2021

Hashed, a South Korean venture capital company specialized in investing in blockchain technology, on Tuesday said it has invested an undisclosed amount in Hi, a membership-powered financial service for crypto and fiat currencies. Hi was co-founded by Sean Rach, the former chief marketing officer at Crypto.com and Stefan Rust, who served as CEO at Bitcoin.com. “Hi aims to provide a global wallet service that can provide various financial and payment services using cryptocurrency. We e

Market July 13, 2021

KakaoBank’s rapid growth underscores the threat Big Tech poses to incumbent banks in Korea, Moody’s Investors Service on Monday said. The global credit rating agency said that local lenders face mounting competition and will have to strengthen their online platforms as KakaoBank expands its loan portfolio and capital base. Moody’s said KakaoBank, the banking arm of mobile giant Kakao, now has the largest number of users and attributed the internet-only bank’s rapid as

Market July 12, 2021

  Bithumb, one of South Korean major cryptocurrency exchanges, will stop accepting registrations of overseas users and block access from traders in four more countries that have been added to a money-laundering watch list. The cryptocurrency exchange will no longer receive applications for trading from overseas users starting 3 p.m. on Aug. 13. The same rule will be applied to foreign citizens in South Korea who do not have an alien registration card, it said. Both registrations and t

Market July 8, 2021

BUSAN -- Blockchain experts gathered in Busan -- a city designated as a blockchain special zone -- on Wednesday to assess the city’s potential to become the center of a global digital information ecosystem. Introducing the city’s blockchain projects that are taking place here, Shin Chang-ho, director of the Future Industry Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, said the blockchain technology has paved the way for the nation’s port city to transform into a financial hub and a glo

Market July 7, 2021