Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo met Friday with Henry Fernandez, chairman of the US financial firm Morgan Stanley Capital International, at Hana Financial Group's headquarters in central Seoul to discuss climate change response as well as environment, social and governance management. At the meeting, Ham introduced Hana Financial Group's ESG management efforts and its future plans to...

Local investors' voracious appetite shows no sign of abiding, but regulatory hurdles remain to limit market expansion

SEJONG -- South Korea's fiscal deficit increased 15.1 trillion won ($10.5 billion) in the first eight months of 2022 from a year earlier due to spending on vulnerable groups amid the prolonged pandemic, data showed Thursday. The managed fiscal balance, a key gauge of fiscal health calculated on a stricter term, posted a deficit of 85.3 trillion won in the January-August period, larger than a sho...

The head of South Korea’s financial watchdog pledged Tuesday that he will complete an inspection into the troubled funds and products that led to investors suffering hefty losses in recent years. The vow follows public criticism that the Financial Supervisory Service failed to screen and prevent fiascos including Ponzi schemes carried out by hedge funds and local financial institutions in recent...

Apple Pay will start its Korean services next month or at least early December, according to recently leaked documents stating terms and conditions for Hyundai Card customers. The screen captures of digital documents labeled “terms and conditions” in Korean said that “the purpose of this document is to regulate the conditions and procedures of the rights between our customers and the company, ob...

Standard Chartered Bank Korea and Toss Securities are discussing ways to compensate customers who suffered losses due to a faulty won-dollar exchange rate posted on their mobile trading apps, officials said Thursday. The won-dollar exchange rate on Toss Securities’ mobile trading system was frozen at 1,298 won per US dollar from 1:50 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, when the actual rate hovered a...

Samsung Group’s insurance units signed a deal worth $650 million with US-based private equity firm Blackstone to expand its global alternative asset portfolio, the Korean insurers said Wednesday. Samsung Life Insurance and non-life insurer Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will invest in overseas real estate, infrastructure and private equities managed by Blackstone through the latest deal. The in...

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives is expanding international cooperation to help alleviate poverty in developing countries by sharing Koreans’ experience of doing so through savings. Under the guidance of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, community credit cooperatives, known as Saemaul Geumgo, were set up in Myanmar in 2017, Uganda in 2018 and Laos in 2020. Currently,...

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said it will offer special interest rates of up to 2.4 percent for as long as 60 days to first-time SC customers who deposit 100 million won or more, up to 2 billion won, in money market deposit accounts. Money market deposit accounts pay interest based on the daily account balance. The bigger the deposit, the higher the interest. The promotional rate is offered to...

Brokerages in South Korea raked in a combined 23.61 billion won ($16.5 million) in fees from handling stock short selling in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday. The amount compared with 29.28 billion won they earned from short selling-related fees throughout last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The Seoul branch of Morgan Stanley earned the large...

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Global Investments is pulling out of a 4.1 trillion won ($2.86 billion) deal to acquire IFC Seoul, a landmark complex in Yeouido, western Seoul, from Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management, industry sources said Monday. In May, Mirae Asset was picked as the preferred bidder to acquire the IFC Complex, which consists of three office towers, after fierce competition with a ...

Another speaker at the forum that pointed to the power of fandom was Alexandre Dreyfus, CEO of Socios and Chiliz, an Ethereum-based coin that runs on the Chiliz blockchain. Dreyfus and his business have close ties with the concept of fandom as Socios is a fintech platform for fan engagement and fan monetization of sports teams using blockchain technology. “Our vision is simple: we want to change...

Dunamu CEO says Upbit ‘unrattled’ over global crypto exchanges' Korea entry

The Upbit Developer Conference, the nation’s largest annual blockchain developer conference, will kick off Thursday, addressing the latest issues and trends in the blockchain industry, the company said Wednesday. The two-day event hosted by Dunamu, the operator of South Korean crypto exchange Upbit, will be held at the Busan Port International Exhibition & Convention Center in person after two y...

Saudi Arabia’s two major public investment funds have arrived in South Korea to look for local startups to add to their portfolios, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday. Jada, a fund-of-funds set up by Saudi sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, and fellow state-run Saudi Venture Capital will cooperate with the Seoul government to find Korean “unicorns” or startup companies wit...