South Korea unveiled Wednesday plans to prop up the tech-heavy Kosdaq bourse by giving tax relief to investors, creating new composite stock market indexes and lowering the entry barrier for firms to go public on the market. The measures, released by the Financial Services Commission, aim to stimulate venture firms’ growth in line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s policy direction and the ma...

South Korea has for weeks ramped up pressure on the local cryptocurrency industry through a pangovernmental body that includes the Prime Minister’s Office, Justice Ministry, financial authorities and police, among others. Following the move, Korea has imposed a ban on non-real-name transactions and trading by foreigners and minors. Last year, initial coin offerings were also forbidden. Moreover,...

Customer satisfaction for firms and universities in South Korea improved overall in 2017 compared to the previous year, a recent survey by the Korea Productivity Center showed. KT, Lotte Department Store, Samsung C&T and Chungbuk National University topped the list for their respective industries. The National Customer Satisfaction Index in the fourth quarter of 2017 came to 75.6 points, up 0.9...

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Monday called on banks to act as “gatekeepers” in monitoring cryptocurrency-related transactions, elaborating on the need to set off a nationwide survey Monday on banks that have provided virtual accounts for the transactions. “Concerns are rising as banks have kept mum about money flows for illegal use, instead of taking the role of gatekeepers,” said he...

Kakao Bank, South Korea‘s leading direct bank by transaction volume, denied news reports Monday that it is looking to turn to corporations to diversify its customer group, currently solely composed of retail customers. Earlier Monday, the online-only bank was reported to have revised its terms and conditions in December to allow for business entities to open checking accounts through its mobile ...

This is the 48th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. South Korea announced in October last year the upcoming PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games will become the test bed for the nation‘s first fifth-generation network. The news triggered anticipation for the hyper-connectivity -- or connectivity between humans and things -- powered by wh...

Hanwha Group has purchased 1,400 tickets for the forthcoming PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games and souvenirs to gift them to customers, the underprivileged and foreign military personnel temporarily living in South Korea, according to the company Thursday. The conglomerate held a ceremony on Thursday in Seoul to hand out 300 tickets to over 80 military officers that came to Korea from 27 countrie...

Hyosung on Wednesday embarked on a preliminary screening process to list a new holding company and four subsidiaries that will be spun off on the first-tier stock market Kospi, according to the Korea Exchange. By no later than June 1 this year, Hyosung will spin off the units, each dedicated to the polyester fiber industry, heavy industries, industrial materials and chemical products, according ...

South Korean brokerage KTB Investment & Securities is on track for a transition in leadership to incumbent Vice Chairman Lee Byung-chul, in the wake of a series of scandals involving Chairman Kwon Sung-moon. Lee, 48, announced Tuesday in a regulatory filing that he would exercise his right of first refusal on 18.76 percent of shares worth 66.2 billion won ($62.2 million) in the securities firm, ...

Don Tapscott, a Canadian best-selling author and founder of Blockchain Research Institute, will speak at a blockchain conference slated for Jan. 17 in Seoul, according to an industry source Wednesday. The event, titled “Blockchain Revolution: Convergence with Traditional Economy,” will take place at Seoul Dragon City in Yongsan, central Seoul. Tapscott, co-author of “Blockchain Revolution,” las...

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the fintech industry. This is the seventh installment. — Ed. Securities firms in South Korea have for the past few years joined the race to lower commission fees -- to nearly zero -- to draw in more retail investors. But to Ryan Moon, co-founder of Korea’s first robo adviser-powered investment service provider Newsys...

Mirae Asset Daewoo, the largest securities firm by net worth in South Korea, was slapped with a fine of 325.2 million won ($306,000) in December last year over a breach of the Capital Markets Act, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday. Three brokers at Mirae Asset Daewoo, who were not identified to the media, were given penalties such as suspension, wage cut and reprimand b...

In the wake of the South Korean government’s signal that it may shut down cryptocurrency exchange businesses, rumors circulated online Friday that a protest against the government’s anti-cryptocurrency move would be held in Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul on Saturday night. An online post said a protest would begin at 8 p.m. Saturday to fight the state-led crackdown “without the slightest leg...

The value of shares traded on South Korea’s second-tier stock market Kosdaq in 2017 hit an all-time high as of Friday, riding the momentum of biotech shares and heightening volatility of shares linked to the cryptocurrency industry since November, data showed Tuesday. From Jan. 2, 2017 to Friday, investors traded stocks worth 876.3 trillion won ($813.9 billion) in total, beating the previous rec...

This is the 47th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. Raonsecure, a local mobile security solutions provider, had a year filled with a string of opportunities, as the government pushed to abolish the use of ActiveX from major websites and approved operations of mobile banks. But nothing seems to have pushed the price ceiling of the Kosd...