Cheap entry, high risk: Leveraged Samsung, SK hynix ETFs to debut at W20,000

Leveraged products tied to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix will debut at an initial listing price of 20,000 won ($13.30), investment banking industry sources said Thursday, setting the entry point far below the underlying chip stocks as Korea prepares to launch its first leveraged single-stock products. The Korea Exchange recently approved asset managers’ proposed listing price ahead of the products’ scheduled debut on May 27, according to sources. Unlike management fee approvals overseen by th

2026-05-21 17:36:11:00

NPS warns uncertainty remains high despite record returns

South Korea's National Pension Service said Wednesday that uncertainty in global financial markets remains elevated despite the pension fund posting a third straight year of record-breaking returns. Speaking at Asia Asset Management’s 11th Korea Roundtable in Seoul, Seo Won-joo, chief investment officer of the NPS, said market volatility has intensified this year amid geopolitical tensions, rising protectionism and rapid advances in artificial intelligence. “The NPS recorded an annual return of

2026-05-20 19:49:02:00

Nobel economist Howitt urges Korea to ‘wait and see’ on AI profit sharing

Peter Howitt, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, urged South Korea to adopt a cautious “wait-and-see” approach toward redistributing AI-driven semiconductor profits. Howitt is a Brown University professor emeritus and a leading scholar of creative destruction, or the connection between innovation and economic displacement. At a press briefing following the “Economic Paradigm Shift for Reversing the Growth Trend” conference held Friday at The Westin Josun Seoul, Howitt emphasized the im

2026-05-16 16:00:00:00

Coinone says no confirmed OKX stake deal, talks ongoing

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone said it was in discussions with multiple firms over potential strategic investments, but no agreement has been finalized, amid market speculation linking it to OKX and Korea Investment & Securities. “We are discussing strategic equity investments and partnerships with multiple companies, but nothing has been finalized,” a Coinone official said Friday. According to crypto industry sources, OKX and Korea Investment & Securities are considering investments in Co

2026-05-15 18:00:43:00

KIS first-quarter operating profit nears W1tr

Korea Investment & Securities said its first-quarter operating profit was near 1 trillion won (667.3 million won), driven by balanced growth across its brokerage, wealth management, investment banking and trading businesses. On Thursday, KIS said in a preliminary earnings filing that its first-quarter operating profit on a consolidated basis rose 85 percent on-year to 959.9 billion won. Net profit increased 75 percent from a year earlier to 784.7 billion won during the same period. Trading accou

2026-05-15 12:20:45:00

Foreign investors return to Kosdaq after year of heavy selling

Foreign investors have turned net buyers of Kosdaq shares this year, reversing last year’s heavy selling as expectations build that tougher delisting rules and broader capital market reforms will help clean up Korea’s junior bourse and narrow the chronic Korea discount. Foreign investors have net bought 2.7 trillion won ($1.81 billion) worth of Kosdaq stocks so far this year, compared with net sales of 2.6 trillion won during the same period a year earlier, according to Korea Exchange data relea

2026-05-14 19:17:17:00

Samsung Securities debuts omnibus account service with IBKR

Samsung Securities said Tuesday it launched a foreign omnibus account service in partnership with Interactive Brokers, marking a major step in efforts to attract more global retail investors to the South Korean stock market. Interactive Brokers, one of the world’s largest online brokerages with roughly 4.65 million client accounts and a market capitalization of around 200 trillion won ($134.5 billion), provides trading services across more than 170 markets worldwide. The new service allows overs

2026-05-12 13:33:41:00

Korea’s longer trading push fuels hiring, labor tensions

South Korean brokerages and asset managers are racing to prepare for longer stock trading hours, scrambling to hire staff and overhaul systems as the Korea Exchange pushes ahead with one of the country’s biggest market structure changes in years. But the transition is also exposing growing strains across the financial industry, with labor unions protesting heavier workloads and market participants warning that key trading rules for exchange-traded funds remain unresolved just months before launc

2026-05-11 15:41:22:00

Korea opens stock rally to 10 million foreign trading accounts

South Korean brokerages are betting that the retail expansion of omnibus accounts for foreign investors could trigger a wave of overseas money into the local stock market, with industry officials expecting as many as 10 million additional foreign retail accounts to gain access to Korean equities. The growing optimism has turned omnibus accounts into one of the hottest themes in Korea’s brokerage industry, with Samsung Securities and Hana Securities emerging as early frontrunners after securing p

2026-05-10 15:59:28:00

Bithumb signs Vietnam crypto exchange deal with SSID

Bithumb, South Korea's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, has signed a memorandum of understanding with SSID, a subsidiary of Vietnam's largest securities firm SSI Securities, the company said on Thursday. The agreement to jointly develop a local virtual asset exchange, signed March 2 at SSI's Hanoi branch, was attended by Bithumb CEO Lee Jae-won, SSID CEO Nguyen Khac Hai and SSI Securities Chairman Nguyen Duy Hung. The two sides will collaborate on technology architecture, wallet and custo

2026-05-07 14:10:45:00