Articles by Park Ga-young
Park Ga-young
gypark@heraldcorp.com-
3 crypto exchanges launch ‘travel rule’ joint venture
South Korea’s three top cryptocurrency exchanges -- Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- launched a joint venture to co-develop solutions for a “travel rule” system, the companies said Tuesday. They invested 300 million won ($258,115) each in the new joint venture, COnnect Digital Exchanges or CODE, to satisfy the mandate before the deadline set by the government and an international anti-money laundering body. The travel rule is a global standard imposed by the Financial Actio
Market Aug. 31, 2021
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[Newsmaker] Opposition lawmakers warn of conflict of interest involving FSC nominee
Despite the Parliament’s approval of the nomination of the Financial Services Commission’s new chairman on Friday, concerns remain over his familial ties with the chairman of Korea Investment Holdings, the parent group of a major South Korean brokerage firm. The FSC chief nominee, Koh Seung-beom, is the brother-in-law of Kim Nam-goo, chairman and CEO of Korea Investment Holdings, which controls Korea Investment & Securities, the nation’s second-largest securities company
Economy Aug. 29, 2021
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Netmarble offloads KakaoBank shares worth W113b ahead of casino game buy
Netmarble sold 133 billion won ($114 million) worth of shares in KakaoBank to secure liquidity, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday, ahead of the payment deadline for its acquisition of a social casino game company. This is the second time the mobile game company unloaded its holding in KakaoBank after it sold 6 million shares for 430 billion won on Aug. 10, just days after the internet-only bank successfully made its market debut on Aug. 6. After the two rounds of offloading, it still hol
Market Aug. 26, 2021
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Fintech firms urge smooth passage of e-payment law over Mergeplus fiasco
The Korea Fintech Industry Association said Tuesday that lawmakers must move forward with the critical Electronic Financial Transactions Act, which has been at an impasse at the National Assembly for several months, joining earlier calls from some politicians and the central bank in the wake of the Mergeplus fiasco. The association, which represents 330 fintech companies, said that the Mergeplus incident was “predictable.” Without the revision of the EFTA -- which had not under
Market Aug. 24, 2021
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More Kospi200 firms set up ESG committees
Almost 40 percent of South Korea’s top 200 listed companies have established committees to deal with environmental, social and corporate governance issues, with a majority of them having caught on to the trend this year, a report from consulting firm Samjong KPMG showed Monday. Out of the Kospi200 companies, which make up 93 percent of the total market of the country’s main bourse, 76 companies or 38 percent have set up ESG committees, including one that has two councils. Out of t
Economy Aug. 23, 2021
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PH129 claims most expensive apartment in S. Korea
The most expensive apartment sold this year was in The Penthouse Cheongdam, a luxurious residence also known as PH129, data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport showed on Monday. One unit with an exclusive use area of 273.96 square meters on the 14th floor of the 20-floor building was sold for 11.5 billion won ($9.79 million) in March. Another unit of the same size on the sixth floor was traded at 10 billion won. The apartment, located in southern Seoul‘s Gangnam Dis
Market Aug. 23, 2021
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KakaoBank outpaces Hyundai Motor in market cap
KakaoBank, South Korea’s largest digital-only bank, beat out Hyundai Motor, one of the world’s largest carmakers, in terms of market capitalization on Friday morning, becoming 8th most valuable company here. Shares of KakaoBank rose 1.85 percent to 92,300 won ($77.98) during the morning trade to surpass the 44 trillion won-mark before it closed at 1.09 percent lower to 91,000 won. Hyundai Motor shares, meanwhile, declined more than 1 percent to 204,000 won apiece, losing
Market Aug. 20, 2021
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‘Mergepoint saga could speed up passage of e-payment act revision’
Politicians have started to look closely into a snowballing fiasco of prepaid discount service Mergepoint on Thursday, raising expectations that it could help speed up the passage of a revision to the controversial e-payment law. The revised Electronic Financial Transaction Act (EFTA) has been pending at the National Assembly for nine months. Park Wan-joo, the policy committee chairman of the ruling Democratic Party, said the government and the ruling party were taking the case very seriously
Market Aug. 19, 2021
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Bithumb enjoys robust growth in H1
Bithumb Korea, the operator of a local cryptocurrency exchange, saw a 1,100 percent jump in its net profit, according to a financial statement of Vident, the largest shareholder of the exchange on Wednesday. Bithumb’s revenue in the first half of the year stood at 608.7 billion won ($520.9 million), soaring 507 percent on-year, while its net profit rose a whopping 1,100 percent to 603.3 billion won, the data showed. Kim Sung-kwon, a press officer at Vident, said Bithumb‘s annual
Market Aug. 18, 2021
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KakaoBank’s net profit jumps 156% in H1
KakaoBank, the country’s largest internet-only bank by user numbers, on Tuesday said it recorded a 156 percent jump in net profit in the first half of this year, backed by increased interest income and its platform business. The company’s net profit in the January-June period stood at 115 billion won ($97 million) including 69.3 billion won in the second quarter. Its operating profit was 133.8 billion won. The mobile-only lender, which debuted on the stock market Aug. 6 as the
Market Aug. 17, 2021
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Dunamu to unveil travel rule solution next month
Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, on Tuesday said it planned to unveil its own “travel rule” solution in September through its blockchain technology research arm Lambda256. The travel rule is a global standard imposed by the Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental anti-money laundering watchdog, on virtual asset service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges and digital wallet providers. The country’s virtual asset serv
Market Aug. 17, 2021
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Meet market winners and losers in times of pandemic
By The Investor team The South Korean financial and investment market has been going through probably the biggest and fastest change in its modern history under the COVID-19 pandemic, which still shows no sign of abating. It may not be the case just for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, as global markets as a whole have also been greatly touched by the spread of the virus and a series of expansionary fiscal measures, as well as the lockdowns that followed. What appears to have made the
Economy Aug. 15, 2021
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Banks' crypto transaction fee revenues rise 140%
South Korea‘s banks saw a sharp increase in transaction fees from cryptocurrency exchanges in the second quarter, despite heavy fluctuation in the cryptocurrency market. The three banks in partnership with cryptocurrency exchanges -- K bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, and Shinban Bank -- made a total of 16.9 billion won ($14.71 million) from the transaction fees of the four cryptocurrency exchanges they provide real name accounts for -- Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- according to data co
Market Aug. 10, 2021
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Banks‘ revenues from crypto transaction fees more than double in Q2
South Korea‘s banks saw a sharp increase in transaction fees from cryptocurrency exchanges in the second quarter, despite heavy fluctuation in the cryptocurrency market. The three banks in partnership with cryptocurrency exchanges -- K bank, NH Nonghyup Bank, and Shinban Bank -- made a total of 16.9 billion won ($14.71 million) from the transaction fees of the four cryptocurrency exchanges they provide real name accounts for -- Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- according to data
Market Aug. 10, 2021
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KakaoBank becomes S. Korea’s top financial firm with market debut
KakaoBank became the largest financial company in South Korea by market capitalization with its market debut Friday, although its share price failed to meet expectations of hitting the daily upper limit. Shares of the country’s biggest mobile-only bank began trading at 53,700 won ($46.98), 37.7 percent higher than its initial public offering price of 39,000 won. It later rose a further 26 percent to 68,000 won during the morning trade, far less than the market expectation of reaching t
Market Aug. 6, 2021
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