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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

South Korea’s largest mobile-only bank, KakaoBank, will have its much-anticipated initial public offering Friday, seeking to raise 2.55 trillion won ($2.23 billion) on the country’s main bourse. Its market debut has been drawing excitement from investors who expect the mobile banking arm of Kakao to hit the jackpot, but skeptics warn of risks that there will be “too many” stocks available right after its IPO, as well as its heavy reliance on retail banking in a heavily re

Market Aug. 5, 2021

K bank, South Korea’s first internet-only bank, announced Tuesday that the company saw a quarterly profit for the first time since its launch four years ago. The net profit in the second quarter came to 3.9 billion won ($3.39 million) on the back of an increase in both interest and noninterest incomes, the company said. Combined with the first quarter’s loss of 12.3 billion won, the loss in the first half of the year stood at 8.4 billion won, a dramatic decrease from last year&

Market Aug. 3, 2021

Viva Republica, South Korea’s leading financial technology company, announced Monday that it would eliminate transaction fees for Toss users, as it gears up for growing competition with internet-only banks and other fintech firms. The app Toss, which handles up to 2 million won ($1,730) at any given time, previously charged 500 won for each money transfer after providing the first 10 transfers free. But starting from Monday, Toss users can transfer money at no cost. The move comes as

Market Aug. 2, 2021

Acquiring additional shares in Starbucks Korea could boost E-mart’s operating profit to near 1 trillion won ($864.4 million) within years, analysts said Wednesday. Several analysts praised E-mart’s decision to buy an additional stake in Starbucks Korea, which will become a subsidiary of the supermarket chain once the deal is closed. On Tuesday, E-mart, the supermarket chain under retail giant Shinsegae Group, announced that it bought an additional 17.5 percent stake in Starbu

Market July 28, 2021

South Korea’s mobile-only KakaoBank attracted nearly 58 trillion won ($50.21 billion) from retail investors during the two-day subscription for its much anticipated public listing, falling short of market expectations of setting a new record. The company drew 57.78 trillion won in deposits for the stock offering from some 1.86 million retail investors via the four IPO managers -- KB Securities, Korea Investment and Securities, Hana Financial Investment, Hyundai Motor Securities. The su

Market July 27, 2021

Retail giant Shinsegae Group’s affiliate Emart, which holds a 50 percent stake in Starbucks Korea, is in talks to buy the remaining 50 percent held by the headquarters of the global coffee chain, the company said Monday. Shinsegae’s hypermarket chain unit Emart is reportedly seeking to raise its stake in the Korean unit of Starbucks from the current 50 percent to 70 percent while Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC will buy a 30 percent stake. While revealing the ongoin

Market July 26, 2021

Government-backed coins and private cryptocurrencies will coexist for a while, despite rising regulatory walls set by the government to counter virtual coins, experts at a global webinar session said Thursday.　 Noting that cryptocurrencies and digital currencies by governments are “two different animals,” they will coexist for now partly because current cryptocurrencies are not actually solving payment problems. “How many of them (cryptocurrencies) are solving actual paym

Economy July 22, 2021