Global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said Wednesday that Hyundai Card’s ratings will remain unchanged, even after Fubon Life Insurance and Fubon Commercial Bank‘s acquisition of 20 percent shares in the credit card operator.　 According to Fitch, Hyundai Card will maintain its current rating as BBB (stable) because it will receive all necessary support from its parent company, Hyundai Motor Group. Fitch Ratings said it expects Hyundai Motor Group to continue to have strong control

South Korea’s financial watchdog will launch an investigation into electronic payment service providers and their operations amid growing concerns over consumer protection in a row involving local discount app operator Mergeplus. The Financial Supervisory Service has been under fire for failing to monitor risks and eliminate legal gray areas on the back of fast-growing electronic payment services in recent months. Angry customers swarmed Mergeplus’ headquarters in Seoul last week

The blame game between financial authorities and discount app operator Mergeplus intensified Monday, leaving customers who bought coupons uncertain as to whether they would lose their money. Mergeplus launched Mergepoint, an electronic payment service, in 2018. Consumers can buy Mergepoints for 20 percent less than their face value, and use them in local retail franchises, convenience stores and coffee shops. The substantial discounts on offer have helped the service attract about 1 million u

Naver’s mobile messenger Line’s blockchain subsidiary said Thursday its crytocurrecy Link will be listed on the country’s exchange Bithumb and start trading in the market on Friday. Line Blockchain and Bithumb said that the deposit and withdrawal address of the cryptocurrency account will be released soon. Link is a cryptocurrency issued by its Sinpapore branch Line Tech Plus, using “Link chain,” a blockchain mainnet made by Line itself, where the actual transact

South Korean Blockchain research company AMAXG has launched “BIZA-Metaversity,” a metaverse-based AI education platform, to tap into the fast growing virtual technology sector worldwide. 　 The metaverse refers to virtual worlds shared by people online. Users interact through digital avatars in the virtual environment while carrying out real life activities. AMAXG plans to gather education institutions in the BIZA-Metaversity and provide an all-in-one education service across borde

South Korean IT solutions and services provider 3K Group has opened a research center to further its research and business in AI, big data and blockchain. According to the company, the “3K AI Center,” a four story building located in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul, will play a key role in leading the company’s research and development. “The AI center is a stepping stone for enhancing efficiency in R&D between the group’s subsidiaries and their partners, and acce

The country‘s second-largest carmaker Kia said Monday it will invest 10 billion won ($8.7 million) into local fintech company Bank Salad in a bid to set foot in the mobility data business. 　 Through the investment, Kia seeks to forge a partnership with the fintech firm to develop data technology for the mobility industry such as open data platform for cars and connected cars. They plan to launch car insurance services that use MyData, a government-led project to comprehensively collect

Buyers’ sentiment for Seoul apartments hit its highest point in five months this week, despite the government’s tightening measures, data showed Friday. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, an index gauging the balance between supply and demand for homes surged by 0.3 point this week, from 107.6 to 107.9. When the index exceeds 100, demand for homes is stronger than the supply available in the market. The data suggests that the market is defying the government’s attemp

The number of subscribers to Kakao Pay Securities, the brokerage arm of mobile messenger giant Kakao, surpassed the 5 million mark as of July, 17 months since its inception, the company said Friday. The number is equivalent to one-fifth of the 28 million South Koreans who are economically active, it added. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of accounts used for public offering funds via Kakao Pay Securities surpassed 2.1 million as of June. The number of sub

Insurance companies, typically some of the most conservative firms in finance, are rolling out subscription services and setting reasonable payment terms to meet the needs of young Koreans in a bid to secure future customers. Hanwha Life Insurance said Thursday it has launched three subscription insurance products. Unlike other insurance products that dole out money only when customers are deceased, injured or hospitalized, the company offers benefits related to daily consumption. “The

Despite the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic striking a blow to the South Korean economy, global credit appraiser S&P Global Ratings said it would keep the country’s economic growth rate outlook for 2021 and credit rating unchanged, citing robust exports. The agency projected Asia’s fourth-largest economy to grow 4 percent and kept the credit rating at AA, same as estimates from last month and in April. “Overall economic forecasts for South Korea are still looking f

Global credit card giant Visa has appointed Patrick Storey, former chief operating officer of consulting and analytics business, as the new head of its overseas unit covering South Korea and Mongolia. He replaces Patrick Yoon, who had led Visa‘s Korea and Mongolia operations since 2018. Joining Visa in1996, Storey worked in the risk management, operations and sales departments in global and regional businesses, according to the company. “Based on his more than 20 years of experi

Mid-sized local cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea are shutting down as the country’s finance regulator has caught some of their illegal activities recently, and stricter regulations are to be implemented to allow their business operations, industry sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the 11 exchanges that have used fraudulent collective accounts will most likely close business as Financial Services Commission plans to stop their transaction and notify illegal activities to the

Hyundai Capital Services, the country’s leading auto financing company, said Sunday that it launched an online knowledge sharing platform for its global entities to share new strategies and up-to-date progress of product development. The “Online Knowledge Sharing Platform,” which to be developed into a global product hub, will help global entities to share product strategies, experiences and knowledge from the different regions in real time, the company said. The online pl

Kang Seol-ah, 31, was supposed to be on Jeju Island for summer vacation this week, but instead, she chose to buy a small tent and decorative light bulbs to set the camping mood at home. The resurgence of the coronavirus has scared her, as it has forced restaurants and tourist sites to close early, even on the southern resort island known as the cleanest region in South Korea. Her plan B was camping at home, lounging on a camping chair and drinking ice cold beer in her new linen dress from H&am

Despite a gloomy outlook on emerging countries’ equity market due to the pandemic impact and corporate regulations hindering growth, prospects for South Korea remain positive, driven by quality companies’ exceeding performance on long-term growing industries, an analyst at global asset management firm AllianceBernstein said Tuesday. “Korea is quite sensitive to global growth. Since global growth especially in developed markets remain quite strong, we also have a fairly constr

Crowdfunding platform Wadiz said Monday it has completed a organization overhaul by spliting the company into two entities in charge of financial and non-financial businesses to transform itself into a platform directly linking consumers and startups, both online and offline. Following the revamp, the parent company Wadiz Co Ltd. will be in charge of non-financial business while the subsidiary companies Wadiz Finance and Wadiz Partners will lead the financial business, the company said. &ldq

The state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea said Sunday it will invest 100 billion won ($87 million) in future mobility businesses to ensure local firms can gain an upper hand in those fields amid a rapidly changing global market. The areas it will allocate investments include electronic, hydrogen-fueled or automatic driving cars, urban air mobility, eco-friendly vessels and aerospace craft. The lender made the investment decision in line with the government-led Korean New Deal initiative, whic

High liquidity in the market has led some young retail investors on relatively small budgets to look into unconventional, and perhaps “fun,” ways of investing. By joining fractional investments in such areas as livestock and limited-edition Rolex watches, they expect somewhat stable returns, rather than entirely relying on volatile stock markets or cryptocurrencies that carry higher risks, according to industry insiders. What makes this new way of alternative investing possible are

While emptying her desk on her last day at the office, Kim Young-sun, 46, recalls the day 18 years ago when she started working at a bank in Seoul. She built her career mostly in retail finance, except for a brief assignment in corporate banking. Management began imposing a heavier workload on bankers in recent years while strictly assessing performance, she said. The stress of that accompanied concerns about the faster-than-expected growth of the fintech industry and platform-based, nontra