A retired police officer, who wished to be identified by his last name Park, 63, believes “60 is the new 40.” “After retiring from my job I started watching over kids as a ‘school sheriff’ at an elementary school nearby. I just was not used to staying at home without a job,” Park told The Korea Herald. Last month, the number of overall employed workers increased by 310,000 on-year, and this rise was largely led by workers like Park, who are in their 60s, a

Industry March 19, 2023

KB Financial Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly to provide special loans for small and medium-sized enterprises making environmental, social and corporate governance efforts. KB Financial Group Vice Chairman Yang Jong-hee and Woo Tae-hee, executive vice chairman of the KCCI, gathered at the KCCI headquarters in Seoul on Thursday to sign the memorandum. "Based on this MOU, KB Financial Group plans to provide various and ex

Market March 16, 2023

Toss Securities announced Tuesday that it has named Kim Seung-yeon, general manager of TikTok’s Southeast Asia global business solution, as its new CEO. Born in 1980, Korean American Kim is known to be a marketing expert with over 15 years of experience in the field. “Our current CEO Oh Chang-hoon wants to focus on his original CTO position and contribute to the firm further in that capacity. Although Oh still has remaining tenure, we have decided to name a new CEO,” a To

Industry March 14, 2023

Ahead of the long-awaited Korean debut of Apple Pay later this month, all eyes are on whether Hyundai Card, the official partner of the mobile payment service for iPhones, will raise its market share to outpace bigger rivals Shinhan Card and Samsung Card. Credit card companies compete head-on in a crowded market here. According to the Credit Finance Association, Shinhan Card was the largest credit card issuer with 19.6 percent as of the fourth quarter of last year, closely followed by Samsun

Industry March 13, 2023

US-based investment management firm BlackRock has become the third-largest shareholder of South Korean brokerage house Samsung Securities, a filing showed Thursday. BlackRock’s 12 affiliated entities hold a total of 5.46 percent stake (4.87 million shares) in Samsung Securities as of Feb. 28, according to a disclosure filed with the Financial Supervisory Service. A minority shareholder with at least 5 percent of shares in a company is subject to filing obligations as a block holder of th

Industry March 10, 2023

South Korea’s JB Financial Group said Thursday that it is against activist fund Align Partners’ demand for dividend expansion. Align Partners, which holds a 14 percent stake in JB, is the financial firm's second-largest shareholder. “In order to boost shareholder benefits in a sustainable way, excessive dividend expansion could hurt corporate value as well as shareholder interests,” JB said in a statement. The latest announcement comes after Align Partners submitte

Industry March 9, 2023

Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho on Wednesday pledged to continue efforts to eliminate regulations that do not fit global standards. “The Korean government will work on removing hurdles that hinder US business operators from establishing Korea as a regional headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region,” Choo said at a special luncheon event held at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas Hotel on Wednesday. “To turn Korea into a No. 1 foreign investment destination, we will strive to

Industry March 8, 2023

IT giant Kakao on Tuesday announced a tender offer for SM Entertainment’s shares held by minority shareholders at a price higher than what Hybe previously offered amid an intensifying race to win over the management rights of the K-pop powerhouse. Kakao and its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment offered 150,000 won ($115.55) per share with a goal to additionally secure up to 35 percent (some 8.3 billion shares) of SM Entertainment. This tender offer begins on Tuesday and ends on March 26. Th

Industry March 7, 2023

K-pop powerhouse Hybe’s initial plan to gain stable management control over rival company SM Entertainment by buying more shares through a tender offer fall through. On Feb. 10, Hybe announced a tender offer for SM Entertainment’s shares held by minority shareholders. It offered 120,000 won ($92.60) per share with a goal to additionally secure up to 25 percent (5,951,826 shares) of SM Entertainment. The tender offer ended March 1. Hybe was only able to acquire 233,817 shares throug

Industry March 6, 2023

More than 90 percent of real estate experts predicted a decline in housing prices this year, while 1 in 2 said the housing market could see a rebound next year, according to a KB Financial Group report released Sunday. The report said transaction prices of houses nationwide fell 1.8 percent last year, a first in 10 years. Daegu showed the highest decline with 5.2 percent, followed by Daejeon with 4.4 percent and the greater Seoul area with 2.7 percent. The number of transactions also plunged alm

Industry March 5, 2023

K-Bank, a South Korean internet-only bank, posted record-high profits last year, extending gains after it swung to black for the first time in 2021. The bank recorded a net profit of 83.6 billion won ($63.7 million) in 2022, marking a 272 percent increase from the previous year's net profit of 22.5 billion won, according to K-Bank on Thursday. K-Bank’s net profit in 2021 was a turnaround from a loss of 105.4 billion won in 2020. It was the first annual net profit that the internet-o

Industry March 2, 2023

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics was the top stock pick among investors in February, with the total trade volume of its stocks soaring to 16.17 trillion won ($12.3 billion) on the nation’s main bourse Kospi, according to data from the Korea Exchange on Wednesday. The tech giant’s daily trade volume was 808.9 billion won on average last month. Posco Chemical, a battery materials company that has recently inked a whopping 40 trillion won supply deal with Samsung SDI, had the sec

Industry March 1, 2023

Hybe, the Korean entertainment agency behind BTS, announced on Tuesday that it has submitted a petition to the Financial Supervisory Service asking for an investigation into a "suspicious" large purchase deal of SM Entertainment stocks. The request comes amid Hybe’s bid to take over its rival agency after becoming its largest shareholder. “On Feb. 16, an abnormal purchase of 2.9 percent (683,398 shares) of SM's issued shares took place at IBK Investment Securitie

Industry Feb. 28, 2023

South Korean households used a record high portion of their spending on non-consumption expenditures such as interest repayments and tax, according to data released on Monday by the Korean Statistical Information Service. Household non-consumption expenditure includes money spent on tax payments, insurance payments, and interest payments on borrowed money, among other expenditures. As non-consumption expenditures increase, disposable income used for the personal consumption of goods and serv

Industry Feb. 27, 2023

Making blockchain-based tokens operational here is a part of South Korea's "serious" efforts in adopting regulatory changes to make its capital market more attractive to foreign investors, the top financial regulator said Friday. Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Kim So-young stressed that recently released guidelines on security tokens were created to “allow issuance of blockchain-powered digital tokens," during a press conference with foreign media outlets h

Industry Feb. 24, 2023