Korea’s stock market is set to enter a new phase with the upcoming launch of the first alternative trading system for the Korea Exchange, the nation’s sole bourse operator that has enjoyed almost 70 years of monopoly. Nextrade, a consortium of 34 securities and tech firms established in November 2022, aims to earn the final regulatory approval within the year for its official debut in the first quarter of next year. More than 20 brokerage houses here have already expressed their inte

Blockchain platform operators under Korean tech giants Line and Kakao are to complete integration under the new brand name "kaia" in June, the entities announced Tuesday. Project Dragon, created through a merge of Kakao's blockchain platform Klaytn Foundation and Finschia Foundation under Naver's affiliate Line Tech Plus, said it plans to complete the integration of the respective blockchain ecosystems in June, following a merger announced in February. “Such a merger of

MBK Partners Chairman Michael ByungJu Kim has recently donated $25 million to his undergraduate alma mater, Haverford College, according to the asset manager's announcement on Monday. The $25 million donation, the largest amount in the school's history, was made on April 23. It will fund the establishment of the Institute for Ethical Inquiry & Leadership at the liberal arts college in Haverford, Pennsylvania. “Ethical inquiry is at the core of a Haverford education, and leade

Korean banks may face diminishing profitability due to mounting pressure to take on social responsibilities amid the country's slowing economic growth, a senior official at global credit appraiser Fitch Ratings said. Commercial banks, often criticized for making money from excessively high interest rates, are facing stronger pressure from local authorities to return a portion of profits to the provision of public goods. “From the operating environment side, the pressure to commit to s

Korea’s top finance firms -- KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NongHhyup -- have set aside a total of nearly 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in reserve for the compensation of losses related to the misselling of equity-linked securities products tracking the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index in Hong Kong. While KB Financial Group, the top seller of the ELS products, set aside 862 billion won to cover the compensation, NongHyup and Shinhan each allocated 341.6 billion won and 274 billion won.

Building bilateral ties between Korea and the Philippines could be a means to boosting the livelihoods of the people of each country for Luis Chavit Singson, chairman of the Philippines’ LCS Group of Companies, and boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. Singson and Pacquiao, longtime friends and investment partners, visited Seoul this week in a search for new business opportunities, along with Secretary of Agrarian Reform Conrado Estrella. Over the years, the two have been highly interested in coop

Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong, during his visit to the United States, projected the volatility of the won-dollar exchange rate would ease if the Middle East tension did not escalate further. The won-dollar exchange rate has been fluctuating heavily over the past few weeks, influenced by the strong demand for the greenback, with the anticipation that the US Federal Reserve will continue its aggressive monetary tightening due to the hotter-than-expected inflation readings. The strong safe

The top finance policymakers of South Korea, the US and Japan shared their concern on the recent devaluation of the Korean won and the Japanese yen during their first trilateral talks Wednesday. Korea's Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki held three-way talks on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and Group of 20 finance leaders' meetings in Washington. They were the first trilateral talks to

Mirae Asset Global Investments announced Wednesday that Global X, its US-based exchange-traded fund subsidiary, would seek increased competitiveness under new CEO Ryan O'Connor, the former global head of ETF products at Goldman Sachs. O'Connor, who has an over 17-year career in the US ETF industry, having worked at Goldman Sachs and State Street Global Advisors, took office as the chief of fund issuer Global X on April 8. Through a recent leadership reshuffle carried out earlier this m

The Korean won weakened to 1,400 won against the US dollar during trading hours Tuesday, marking a new 17-month low as the Korean economy faces headwinds from the escalating volatility in the Middle East. The local currency against the greenback closed at 1,394.5 won, losing its value by 10.5 won from the previous trading day. Shortly after trading began at 1,389.9 won, the rate weakened to 1,400 won to $1 at 11:32 a.m., marking the first time in 17 months for the currency exchange rate to hit t

The heightened geopolitical tensions from Iran's attack on Israel have cast gloom on Korea as well, bringing down local shares and leading to currency depreciation. While the Korean won has been losing its value against the US greenback in recent days with weakened anticipation on the US Federal Reserve taking a pivot in its monetary policy any time soon, the escalated volatility has led to further depreciation. The won weakened against the dollar on Monday, with the exchange rate closing a

Nearing the “last mile” of its fight against rising prices, the Bank of Korea held the base rate at 3.5 percent for the 10th consecutive time Friday. The monetary policy board of the central bank decided to maintain the rate through a unanimous vote, keeping the rate steady for more than a year since February 2023, BOK Gov. Rhee Chang-yong said at a press conference held shortly after the rate-setting decision. “While the headline and core inflation moved in a nearly synchroniz

While recent figures indicate the Korean economy is on the path of recovery, weak household consumption and a fragile property market could remain challenges for the country, an economist from the Asian Development Bank projected. In its Asian Development Outlook report released Thursday, the international organization based in Manila forecast Korea's gross domestic product to grow by 2.2 percent in 2024 and 2.3 percent in 2025, signaling a turn from the 1.4 percent increase observed last y

The race to receive the license to become South Korea’s fourth internet-only bank is growing fiercer, with four bidders announcing their will to contend. There are currently three online lenders in Korea: KBank, Kakao Bank and Toss Bank. But four new contenders -- Soso Bank, Korea Credit Data Bank, and the U-Bank and Douzone Bank consortiums -- have lined up to compete for the fourth license. In line with the local regulator Financial Services Commission’s vision to encourage financi

South Korean regulators’ push for banks to make up for investors’ losses incurred from equity-linked securities tied to a Hong Kong index has left both Korean and foreign banks baffled. Korea's major lenders accepted compensation guidelines suggested by financial watchdog the Financial Supervisory Service last month, agreeing to partly redress investors for the losses from the ELS products. The payback scheme is expected to cost around 2 trillion won ($1.47 billion) in total for

Shinhan Bank, one of the country's top commercial lenders, has thrown its hat in the ring for a license that would make it the country's fourth internet-only bank, competing in the digital space with K bank, Kakao Bank and Toss Bank. Shinhan has joined a consortium launched by Douzone Bizon, an enterprise resource planning software provider, to win approval to launch an internet-only bank. Online lenders here provide most financial services from savings to loans, operating without a ph

IBK Venture Investment, an investment arm of the state-owned Industrial Bank of Korea, pledged to inject 500 billion won ($370 million) into local startups over the next three years at an event in Seoul on Thursday. The investment unit, the ninth subsidiary under the IBK Financial Group, was founded in December with an initial capital of 100 billion won to fund early-stage startups. It was licensed as a new technology venture capital business in March, according to the lender. While IBK Venture

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rebounded in March after a two-month decline, backed by deposits and investment gains offsetting the strong US dollar, the central bank said Wednesday. The country's foreign reserves had come to $419.25 billion as of late March, up $3.51 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The figure advanced on-month after declining for the first two months of the year. It moved down $4.4 billion and $20 million in Janu

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Crypto.com said Tuesday it would launch its exchange app service in Korea this month while expressing its hope for winning the regulatory nod for Korean won-based transactions soon, the company announced Tuesday. The firm said it will launch an exchange app for Korean users on April 29, enabling coin-to-coin transactions through the license earned by local exchange OK-Bit. Through the launch, Crypto.com will become the first regulated foreign player to operate a

South Korea's JB Financial Group said Monday it has signed a partnership with OKXE, a Vietnam-based platform for used motorcycles, eyeing the expansion of its brokerage business in the country. At a signing ceremony held in Seoul on Friday, JB Financial Group and its affiliate JB Investment agreed to acquire a combined 8 percent stake in OKXE. OKXE was launched in Vietnam in 2020 by CEO Kim Woo-seok, bringing used motorcycle transactions from offline to online. With over 8 million users as