Ten years have passed since Mirae Asset Global Investments became the first South Korean asset management company to draw investment from foreign clients.Today, as Korea’s leading asset management firm in terms of assets under management, Mirae Asset Global Investments has a long track record of business overseas, ranging from managing foreign investors’ assets to listing exchange-traded funds and taking on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The numbers indicate the strength of i

When New York-based coworking space operator WeWork set foot in Seoul in August 2016 with its first office in the affluent Gangnam-gu district, the staff’s main task was to overcome uncertainties in the Korean market, where the concept of coworking spaces was new. Two years later, WeWork Korea is on a roll, tasked instead with meeting soaring demand for easier and trouble-free leases. Masterminding the leap forward in Asia’s fourth-largest economy is Kang Dong-jin, senior director of real estate

An investment management service that works through voice recognition will be added to Bixby, Samsung Electronics’ flagship artificial intelligence-based platform.Through voice commands, Bixby will not only be able to deliver company information, such as revenue and profit, from financial statements, but also invest in certain stocks or market sectors upon a user’s request.The development of the new Bixby service is set to be completed by the first half of 2019, according to financia

Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku said Wednesday more risk-bearing initial public offerings in the Korean stock bourse are prerequisites for a breakthrough in the growth of Korean companies, calling it an “elemental role of the capital market.”“Ordinary companies draw investments through a cooperation between banks and a capital market,” Choi said in a meeting with representatives of Korean securities firms. “Startups and budding venture companies

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Federation of Banks on Tuesday co-hosted a seminar to encourage South Korean financial institutions to advance into Thailand, a move in line with the Moon Jae-in administration’s New Southern Policy that aims to boost Korea-ASEAN economic ties. The Korean financial authorities invited representatives of the Bank of Thailand, the nation’s central bank and financial watchdog, to the KFB headquarters in Seoul to meet with K

South Korea’s financial groups are facing potentially massive reshuffles of their executive teams as a majority of the incumbents at commercial lenders and their holding companies approach the end of their tenure at year-end. According to disclosures from the respective financial holding companies -- KB, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Woori and NH -- sweeping changes may be ahead for the new year. KB Financial Group will see 12 out of 16 executives, excluding auditors, end their terms in December. At

South Korea’s capital city is poised to set up a state-sponsored financial infrastructure project aimed at lowering card payment-processing costs for small merchants. But there are already doubts about the plan’s sustainability due to the lack of a revenue model.The operation of what is called “Zero-Pay,” referring to near-zero payment-processing fees, will start in December, but the date of the launch has yet to be confirmed, according to state sponsors the Ministry of S

Affiliates and subsidiaries of South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates spent a combined 64.9 trillion won ($57.3 billion) on acquiring business assets, such as facilities and projects for research and development, in the first three quarters of this year, data showed Sunday.  (Yonhap)The conglomerates’ volume of capital expenditure -- spending on tangible assets -- and operating expenses -- of intangible assets -- combined rose 10.9 percent compared to the first three quarters in 2017, according to d

Citibank Korea said Wednesday it plans to pay out an interim dividend worth some 827.5 billion won ($731.3 million) in cash to its Delaware-based US parent company Citibank Overseas Investment Corporation.  The payout to COIC, an indirect subsidiary of New York-based Citigroup, will be executed by end-2018, according to the US investment banking giant‘s Korean banking unit. The decision came after a board of directors’ meeting Wednesday attended by four outside directors. T

South Korean nonprofit organization Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs unveiled Wednesday plans to provide 345 billion won ($304.7 million) over three years to local startups to support their growth and job creation.  Of the total, 320 billion won will go to a new fund of venture capital funds managed by Korea Growth Investment Corp. The volume of subordinate funds will amount to a combined 1.6 trillion won asset for budding Korean startups. According to KGI’s plan in October, m

The chief of South Korea’s capital investment business association on Tuesday urged the nation to prepare for a looming global “investment war,” which he views as a global phenomenon that will soon supersede the ongoing trade war in importance. Kwon Yong-won, chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, stressed the need for investment firms to keep pace with global “innovative growth” and to lay the groundwork for tech entrepreneurship with substantial c

While South Korean commercial bank Woori Bank and its subsidiaries are inching closer to a holding company structure, possibilities of aggressive mergers and acquisitions to expand the banking group remain low for the time being.Such skepticism comes amid a possible fall in the capital adequacy ratio of the nation’s fourth-largest commercial lender, despite the banking group’s higher capacity to leverage private investment after the holding company is reintroduced in 2019. Under Kore

South Korea’s financial institutions suffered insolvency of asset-backed commercial papers Friday at midnight, following a Chinese firm’s default on payments due for bonds.The ABCPs were backed by dollar-denominated bonds worth $150 million that were declared insolvent Thursday. This accounts for some 7 percent of all bonds issued by CERCG Overseas Capital, a Hong Kong subsidiary of China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group. ABCPs refer to short-term money-market securities collater

South Korean stock markets were bullish Thursday on strong foreign buying, as the midterm elections results in the United States stoked investors’ appetite for risk. The benchmark index of top-tier market Kospi closed at 2,092.63 Thursday, up 0.7 percent from Wednesday. The second-tier Kosdaq was 1.7 percent higher. Market giants saw mild gains. On Kospi, Samsung Electronics inched up 0.1 percent, chipmaker SK hynix climbed 3 percent and biosimilar drugmaker Celltrion was 2.1 percent highe

Woori Bank nominated its incumbent Chief Executive Officer Sohn Tae-seung as the chairman of a new holding company set to control the nation’s fourth-largest commercial bank, officials said Thursday.At an extraordinary board of directors meeting, the 59-year-old CEO was named the chairman of the holding company while keeping his CEO post at Woori Bank. Sohn has led Woori Bank since December 2017.  This came a day after the Financial Services Commission approved a plan to reestablish a

Woori Bank, South Korea’s fourth-largest commercial bank and the parent company of 19 financial subsidiaries, has gained regulatory approval to adopt a financial holding company structure. The Financial Services Commission’s decision in a regular meeting Wednesday laid the groundwork for reintroduction of a holding company of the banking group after four years. The new company, set to be established in January 2019, will own six subsidiaries -- Woori Bank, Woori FIS, Woori Finance Re

Some 15 billion won ($13.4 million) will be allocated in the national budget next year to assist Korean small and medium-sized companies making inroads into the Southeast Asian market, a presidential aide said Wednesday, calling the region “a blue ocean” for Korean companies.“Even if it is a blue ocean market, financial assistance is needed for companies entering the market with insufficient capital,” said Kim Hyun-chul, presidential adviser for economic affairs, at a mee

Financial Services Commission Chairman Choi Jong-ku hinted Tuesday at cutting or removing the securities transaction tax on the Korean equity market and to discuss the matter with tax authorities.“It’s high time to take (a securities transaction tax cut) into consideration,” Choi said during a session with parliament, in response to a question from Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. Choi took issue with double taxation potentially caused by the securit

The Financial Services Commission, South Korea’s financial regulator, unveiled Tuesday a set of standards for QR codes for electronic payment, in a nation where the smartphone penetration rate is high and credit card payment terminals are ubiquitous among merchants here.A QR code refers to a matrix barcode used in infrastructure that allows mobile payment between customers and vendors without intermediaries. By using a mobile phone app to scan a QR code, a user will be authenticated, and t

South Korea’s local currency edged down against the greenback on Monday on robust jobs readings in the United States that sparked an upsurge in the US dollar, and on renewed threats of a US-China trade war that put a dent in global risk-tolerance levels.The dollar-to-won currency exchange rate came to 1,123.5 won in closing Monday, down 0.2 percent compared with the Friday session’s close. A lower exchange rate translates into a stronger local currency. This drop marked an end to the