More than 90 percent of all fines for illegal short selling of stocks have been issued to foreign financial firms, government data showed, amid calls from Korean retail investors for stricter regulation. According to Financial Services Commission data submitted to Rep. Yun Ju-kyung of the ruling People Power Party, the regulator dealt with 45 cases of illegal short selling in the first eight months of the year, with total fines exceeding 10.7 billion won ($7.9 million). Of the 45 cases, 23 invol

Industry Oct. 15, 2023

South Korea's economy is expected to achieve a growth rate of 2.1 percent in 2024, according to the recent report titled "2024 Economic and Financial Market Outlook" by Hana Bank's research institution, the Hana Institute of Finance. “Considering the base effect of the sharp slowdown in 2023, the growth momentum is not strong,” Oh Hyun-hee, a researcher at the Hana Institute of Finance said. The institute forecasts an annual economic growth rate of 1.3 percent f

Industry Oct. 12, 2023

Korean science fiction writer Bae Myung-hoon on Wednesday emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between our familiar neighborhoods and space in order to craft compelling space exploration narratives in a Korean setting. He explained that this is difficult, because creators' cognitive range -- the space that creators are familiar with and can describe well -- is limited usually to their surroundings. Korean content consumers also often struggle to simultaneously envision both space

Industry Oct. 11, 2023

Kakao Bank, the banking arm of Korean mobile giant Kakao, announced Tuesday that it will acquire a 10 percent stake in PT Super Bank Indonesia, aiming to boost its presence in the Southeast Asian market. The acquisition will be Kakao Bank's first investment outside of Korea, and will be done in collaboration with the Singapore-based ride-hailing and food delivery app, Grab. A consortium led by Grab and Singapore-based global telecom company, Singtel, is the largest shareholder of PT Super B

Industry Oct. 10, 2023

Sara, a Czech citizen who has been living in Korea for about six years, tried to open an online bank account three years ago. “But it didn’t work, as it wasn’t open to foreigners. I had a lot of trouble with verifying my identity for various services online,” she said. The difficulty in accessing online services due to issues of identity verification has long been a frustration for foreigners residing in Korea, so the Korean government has recently come up with easier mob

Industry Oct. 6, 2023

More than 1 in 4 foreign recipients of unemployment benefits received more last year in unemployment benefits than from the wages they earned before their employment ended, Ministry of Employment and Labor data showed. According to Labor Ministry data submitted to Rep. Kim Sang-hoon of the ruling People Power Party on Wednesday, of 12,100 foreign recipients of unemployment benefits last year, 3,200 (26.4 percent) received more from the scheme than from their previous wages. Rep. Kim expressed

Industry Oct. 4, 2023

South Korea's household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio increased the most last year from 2017 among 26 nations that provided such data, despite financial authorities taking various measures to curb it. According to the International Monetary Fund's Global Debt Database, the ratio reached 108.1 percent last year, an increase of 16.2 percentage points from 92 percent in 2017. South Korea is the only country among the 26 countries included in the data set where private sector debt &

Industry Oct. 3, 2023

The Korean government on Tuesday said it plans to supply an additional 120,000 public homes by this year to help ease the housing crunch in the sluggish market. The plan came after the government held a meeting earlier in the day attended by Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, Land Minister Won Hee-ryong and Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Joo-hyun. Since the second half of last year, rising construction costs and an increase in real estate project financing borrowing rates have worse

Industry Sept. 26, 2023

KB Financial Group's outgoing chair, Yoon Jong-kyoo, said Monday that he hopes his successor will realize his unattained goal to grow the group as a top-10 financial firm in the world. "I previously said I want to turn the group into the 'Samsung of finance,' but now that I look back, I feel a lot of regret when thinking about how much progress we've made (on global stage)," Yoon said at a press conference held at the group’s headquarters in Seoul. He will ste

Industry Sept. 25, 2023

Lee Seung-min, a third-grade student at Gyeongju Hwarang High School, won the 16th KB Financial Group Women's Amateur Golf Championship on Friday. Lee finished the second round of the tournament at Century 21 Country Club in Gangwon Province with a total of 6-under 138 strokes to take the top spot. The final round of the tournament was delayed by about two hours due to heavy fog and ultimately had to be canceled. The winner was determined by the combined scores of the first two rounds. Lee

Industry Sept. 22, 2023

Mirae Asset Global Investments has been leading the domestic equity ETF market with its innovative growth ETFs since April 2022, according to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association. In recent years, ETF products have become increasingly popular in Korea and have attracted significant inflows of funds. As a result, the Korean ETF market attracted more than 100 trillion won ($74.77 billion) in investments, with equity ETFs attracting 50 trillion won. Industry sources say Mirae Asset&

Industry Sept. 22, 2023

European automakers called for a relaxation of regulations on selling electric vehicles in Korea during a press conference for the publication of a white paper by the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea on Thursday. The ECCK’s passenger vehicles committee chairperson, Kim Hong-joong, said that the recent law amendment requiring automakers to secure the pre-certification of electric vehicle batteries to prevent safety hazards should be aligned with United Nations standards. “We re

Industry Sept. 21, 2023

Samsung Group late Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s Jindo dog preservation project is getting a renewed spotlight as the group’s guide dog school marks its 30th anniversary this year. According to industry sources, the late Samsung patriarch acquired 30 Jindos in the late 1960s and strove to increase its population and raise its global awareness. “I spent days working with breeders, consulting with foreign experts and striving to create purebred Jindo dogs. When the original 30 dogs I

Industry Sept. 20, 2023

By Steve Brice In financial markets, there is an inherent tug-of-war between themes/stories and valuations. We are seeing one play out in the equity markets right before our eyes, in the semiconductor industry. This reminds me of my formative investment years of the late 1990s. While we should not blindly follow historical examples, this comparison is something for investors to bear in mind when it comes to making financial decisions and sizing investment positions. Let me start with a caveat.

Industry Sept. 20, 2023

In a bid to attract more foreign clients, Toss Bank, a Korean internet-only bank, introduced a new service on Monday to make it easier for foreigners to verify their identity. The new service extracts facial features from the photo on foreign resident registration cards and compares them to photographs in a database of the Ministry of Justice to verify the authenticity of the foreign resident registration. “When we tried to verify the authenticity of foreign resident registration cards usi

Industry Sept. 18, 2023