PET, or polyethylene terephthalate, is the inexpensive, versatile plastic used to make bottles, food containers and other modern conveniences. Even though PET is a highly valuable and readily recyclable material, there is not enough waste collection and recycling capacity in many countries in South and Southeast Asia. PET and other plastics stay in the environment for hundreds of years, and when exposed to sunlight and seawater, they fragment into microplastics that are consumed by marine life a

Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Friday that a key interest rate hike is plausible by the end of this year in step with economic recovery. “If our economy is expected to stage a modest recovery, (the BOK) will normalize the current easing of monetary policy in an orderly way at an appropriate time,” Lee said in a statement to mark the 71st anniversary of the BOK’s foundation. Earlier in April, the BOK froze its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent amid concer

US-based investment house First Eagle Investment Management and its mutual fund have cashed in a combined 35 billion won ($31.5 million) during a weeklong trade since late May from its investment in event-driven Namyang Dairy stock in South Korea, filings showed Friday. Shares of Namyang Dairy Products, hit a price ceiling immediately after an announcement on May 27 that local private equity firm Hahn & Co. will buy a controlling 52.6 percent stake in the firm from the owner family, includ

South Korea’s NH Financial Group said Thursday it has created an environmental, social and governance fund worth 150 billion won ($134 million) to finance projects tied to the Green New Deal initiative. According to NH, the “NH-Amundi Green New Deal Infra ESG Fund” will offer an alternative investment portfolio that focuses on exposure to both up-and-coming and less risky assets. Investments on hydrogen, fuel cell-related projects alongside solar and wind energies will be inc

Koramco REITs & Trust said Thursday that it has been selected as the preferred bidder to buy an eco-friendly office building in eastern Seoul through its new blind pool fund. The investment target, East Central Tower, is a 42-story building with six underground floors and 100,422 square meters of gross floor space. The 4-year-old building houses tenants including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Construction & Trading, Samsung Medison and Fila Holdings. The prime office building has empl

Major South Korean lender Hana Bank said Thursday it has floated $600 million worth of environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds to help support vulnerable and eco-friendly projects. The dollar-denominated bonds will mature in five years and six months, and carry an annual interest rate of 1.25 percent, or the yield on five-year US Treasurys plus a spread of 0.55 percentage point. ESG bonds are a type of sustainability debt offering aimed at financing corporate activities in environmental

South Korea’s only exchange-traded fund that focuses on global luxury goods stocks has outperformed Korea‘s benchmark index for the Korea Exchange’s main board Kospi over the course of 13 months since its launch, data showed Wednesday. The product, NH-Amundi Hanaro Global Luxury S&P ETF, has gained 78.1 percent since its launch on May 12 last year through Tuesday, beating the Kospi which gained 67.8 percent during the same period, according to data from NH-Amundi Asset Ma

IFC in search of green-minded investment to save oceans from plastics; VP says Korea can take leading role

Seoul-based KB Kookmin Bank has steered clear of litigation in controlling Indonesian subsidiary Bank Bukopin, as its minority shareholder in Indonesia dropped all charges against South Korea‘s largest commercial bank, a filing showed Tuesday. Bosowa Corporindo, which was holding a 11.6 percent stake in the Indonesian midsized bank, has reached an out-of-court settlement for the 20.8 trillion-Indonesian-rupiah ($1.5 billion) charges against the bank‘s new controlling shareholder an

South Korean asset management firm Mirae Asset Global Investments said Monday its assets under management for retirement schemes have surpassed the 10 trillion-won ($9 billion) mark for the first time among Korean peers. As of June 1, assets pooled for Mirae Asset’s retirement schemes came to a total of 10.1 trillion won. The asset management unit of Mirae Asset Group pooled nearly 2 trillion won during the first five months of 2021. Since 2011, the figure has jumped more than eightfold

The Korean Financial Industry Union and the Finance Industry User Council have agreed that workers who get vaccinated for COVID-19 are entitled to up to three days of paid leave, officials said Sunday. Under the agreement, which will take effect Monday, employees of 22 financial institutions registered with the Korea Federation of Banks -- a body that represents commercial banks -- will receive two days off work, the day of the vaccination and the day after.  Those who show signs of ad

Woori Financial Group said Friday it selected 17 companies to join its startup incubation program, beefing up its effort to find new partners and accelerate digital transformation. Established in 2019, “Dinno Lab” -- an abbreviation for “digital innovation lab” -- is a training program provided by the banking group to nurture tech startups. From among 274 applications for this year’s program, startups from seven sectors, including ecommerce, blockchain, artificia

An image of a neatly dressed man welcomes visitors and answers questions on finance services on a monitor at KB Kookmin Bank in Yeouido, western Seoul. The male character, powered by artificial intelligence and modelled on TV personality Kim Hyun-wook, explains the difference between a debit and a credit card in a tone and manner identical to a real human staffer. He is a prototype of the AI bankers set to work alongside human bank staff in the near future.  KB plans to test the AI ba

Hashed co-founder says decentralized technology will become backbone of digital economy

Loans extended to companies in South Korea grew by the largest amount in three quarters in the first quarter of the year as loan demand by the service sector increased amid the pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The outstanding amount of corporate loans came to 1,435.8 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) at the end of March, up 42.1 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading also marked the largest on-quarter gain since a 69.1 tr