South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang are to attend a Korea-Vietnam business forum in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Friday, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Thursday. This will mark the first forum since the two nations formed business ties in 1992, KCCI added. “It’s been a norm that deputy prime ministers headed the forum’s representatives,” a KCCI official said, adding Quang’s visit to the forum means Vietnam regards Korea as an “important partner for b

Industry March 22, 2018

The newly appointed head of a committee for South Korea’s second-tier bourse Kosdaq vowed Wednesday to nurture the exchange into a “market of the future” and distinguish its role from that of the top-tier Kospi market. “We will discover more small and mid-sized venture firms with high potential for growth and give them wider opportunities for initial public offerings,” said Khil Jae-uk, chairman of the Kosdaq Market Committee, at a press conference.  The news c

Market March 21, 2018

South Korea’s top financial policymaking body rolled out plans Monday to lower regulatory barriers for local financial firms to capitalize on databases accumulated in the public sector to improve their products, while also strengthening ways for consumers to take control of their own personal information shared by different financial services firms. The Financial Services Commission said such measures in the long run would be key to achieving “financial inclusion.” In a me

Market March 19, 2018

Douglas Min has taken office as president and chief executive officer of insurer American International Group Korea, the firm said Monday.This came two weeks after a shareholders meeting approved a one-year tenure for Min. AIG Korea is wholly owned by AIG Asia Pacific Insurance, based in Singapore.  With over 20 years of experience in the field, Min replaced Steven Barnett, who stepped down Monday after serving as chief of the global insurer’s Korean unit since 2011. Min joined AIG in

Market March 19, 2018

This is the 52nd in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed.K-pop juggernaut S.M. Entertainment has ramped up efforts to equip itself with TV series production capacities and stronger actor and actress lineups in response to a growing demand for South Korean TV content in the global market. On Wednesday, the firm confirmed two planned acquisition deals worth a combined 80 billion won ($74.9 million).Along with anticipation for improvement in t

Market March 18, 2018

The fate of Hana Financial Group Chairman Kim Jung-tai remains to be seen, as he faces a scandal with just a week left till the group’s shareholders meeting to vote on his third three-year term. Financial watchdogs have zeroed in on the banking group on allegations of recruitment irregularities, while a revelation by the group’s labor union has added fuel to the scandal, arguing Kim was engaged in wrongdoings in its recruitment process.An internal committee consisting of external dir

Market March 16, 2018

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced Thursday a set of plans to strengthen corporate governance rules for financial firms here, mainly to tackle a lack of transparency in nomination processes for chiefs at local banking firms.The plans to revise the Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies, to be proposed by June, aim to prohibit the incumbent chief of a financial firm from joining an internal committee to nominate outside directors. It would also obligate o

Market March 15, 2018

Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku said Kumho Tire creditors’ demand to normalize the Korean tire manufacturer mainly by selling the firm’s majority stake to a Chinese firm is a “prerequisite” for the firm’s survival, during a press conference Wednesday.Choi called for the tiremaker’s labor union to comply with the self-restructuring plan in the making, amid the union’s opposition due to fears of employment insecurity and a technology le

Market March 14, 2018

The Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday launched a special investigation into misconduct at Hana Financial Group and its subsidiary KEB Hana Bank in hiring entry-level employees.The move came a day after the watchdog’s former governor, Choe Heung-sik, offered to resign amid growing allegations that he was involved in the scandal during his stint at the banking group in 2013. A 15-day special in-house counsel team headed by FSS Deputy Gov. Choi Seong-il was launched Tuesday to loo

Market March 13, 2018

The chief of the Financial Supervisory Service, Choe Heung-sik tendered his resignation Monday, amid allegations of him arranging recruitment favors during his stint at Hana Financial Group, according to the FSS.The news came hours after a decision by the FSS to launch a probe into a scandal involving hiring at Hana Financial Group. Gov. Choe, who took office in September 2017, had served as Hana Financial Group chief executive from 2012 to 2014. While denying involvement in any wrongdoing,

Market March 12, 2018

In the wake of signs of US-North Korea and inter-Korean thaws, spearheading the latest rally of South Korean markets were stocks that previously had business ties with North Korea effectively severed. These firms, locally dubbed “inter-Korean business cooperation-themed stocks,” had either operated production facilities at Kaesong industrial park, been involved in joint efforts to build cultural parks at Mount Kumkang in the North or the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or been seen as lik

Market March 11, 2018

South Korea‘s research team unveiled Thursday it has developed a ledger-free blockchain system that runs on inter-device communication system featuring enhanced security, designed to tackle consumer inconvenience on existing blockchain platforms that stems from consensus delay and slow transaction speed.  The homegrown system, dubbed “PureChain,” will have an inter-node transaction go through both external confirmation between nodes, or those engaging in the transaction, a

Market March 8, 2018

KB Financial Group has solidified its position as South Korea‘s top banking group in terms of earnings and market cap, on the back of higher-than-expected earnings in the fourth quarter of 2017 that led to a record-high yearly net income last year.Stock analysts have said the financial giant’s capability to carry out shareholder-friendly actions driven by its increase in capital, will stretch its lead in the domestic banking industry, ahead of Shinhan Financial Group that topped in 2

Market March 8, 2018

South Korean stock markets had a roller coaster day on Wednesday on foreign sell-offs, despite signs of inter-Korean rapprochement in the wake of South Korean envoys‘ meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the previous day. Market watchers remained mixed on whether the North Korean momentum would lead to a long-term upward drive in the local stock markets,  On Wednesday, the top-tier stock market Kospi and the second-tier Kosdaq both fluctuated. Opening lower, both Kospi and Kos

Market March 7, 2018

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 11th installment. - Ed.Since last year, South Korea’s financial watchdogs warned retail investors about crowdsourcing funds for peer-to-peer project finance, saying that their repayment capabilities could only be determined on projected cash flow without collateral.The high return -- often at above 10 percent -- that the instrument promises to the lenders, triggered

Market March 6, 2018