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...

South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Tuesday it has recently opened the nation’s largest premium private banking branch in Seoul in a bid to provide a fuller range of services to its wealthy clients. The seven-story building, named after the bank’s recently launched premium banking service “KB Gold & Wise the First,” is located in Seoul's posh district of Apgujeong. The floor space, themed on b...

Apple Pay is in the final stage of talks with local credit card issuer Hyundai Card to start its Korean services by the end of this year, according to news reports on Wednesday. Apple’s digital payments service, launched in 2014, has since expanded its Asian reach, including China, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. But it has struggled to enter Korea mainly due to a lack of technological infrastru...

SK Broadband has decided to invest $4 million (5.5 billion won) in US collaboration platform developer Swit as the company seeks to boost its competitiveness in the business-to-business sector, the South Korean internet service provider said Wednesday. On top of the investment, SK Broadband said the company will become the sole distributor of Swit in the domestic market while pushing for collabo...

Seoul-based private equity house MBK Partners Founder and Chairman Michael Byung-ju Kim will donate $10 million to help the renovation work of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, both the firm and the museum said Wednesday. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Michael ByungJu Kim has pledged $10 million to support the renovation of the Museum’s Oscar L. and H.M. Agnes Hsu...

South Korea's foreign reserves fell in August as the strong US dollar reduced the conversion value of euro and other currency-denominated assets, central bank data showed Monday. The country's foreign reserves came to $436.4 billion as of end-August, down $2.2 billion from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). Foreign reserves consist of securities and d...

As South Korea seeks to become Asia’s next financial hub, experts call authorities to draw clear lines, bolster transparency