This is the seventh in a series of articles analyzing major companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market. --Ed.In the highly competitive mobile game industry, the life span of a hit title is getting shorter with new overnight successes emerging everyday. Analysts said Com2us, a Korean mobile game developer and publisher, needs to find the next game that can leave the company less reliant on cash-generator “Summoners War” that was launched two years ago. “Given mobile

With expectations of a Korean version of quantitative easing dashed as Korea’s conservative Saenuri Party failed to grab the majority of seats in the general elections, net selling of bond futures by foreign investors hit a record high last week.According to the Korea Exchange, foreign investors unloaded 6,856 contracts of 10-year Korean Treasury Bond Futures and 16,495 contracts of 3-year bond futures after the legislative election last week.“Foreign investors changed their positions as the pos

Korea’s main stock market, the KOSPI, had its best ever dividend year in 2015, with a total shareholder bonus reaching a record high, Korea Exchange said Monday. According to the bourse operator, nearly 70 percent, or 492, of 719 listed firms with their fiscal year ending in December will pay, or have already paid, a combined 19.1 trillion won ($16.6 billion) in cash dividends to shareholders by the end of April.The amount represents an increase of 27 percent from 2014, when 66 percent of the KO

Shares of Hyundai Merchant Marine fell to a 52-week low Monday on renewed worries that the debt-ridden shipping line may be heading for court receivership. The share price closed at 1,895 won ($1.65), 8.01 percent lower than the previous session’s close, against the benchmark KOSPI’s 0.28 percent decline. The stock’s slide came after Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho publicly expressed his concern over the country’s No. 2 shipping line struggling under mounting debt as marine trade continues to shrink

Korea’s sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation said Monday it has named Kim Sang-joon, head of London office, as new chief operating officer.Kim joined KIC in 2009 after working at Samsung Life Insurance’s asset management division for more than 20 years. KIC COO Kim Sang-joon (KIC)Kim’s appointment came after KIC CEO Eun Sung-soo, who took office in January, vowed to enhance transparency of the $91.8 billion national wealth fund’s management under a KIC reform plan.The plan includes

Korean households took more loans from savings banks last year compared with the previous year as banks tightened their lending rules to stay financially healthy, the central bank said Monday.As of the end of 2015, outstanding household loans extended by savings banks stood at 13.69 trillion won ($11.9 billion), accounting for 1.2 percent of overall household loans worth 1,141.83 trillion won, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. Apartment complex in Seoul (Yonhap)The ratio of 1.

Korean shares opened lower Monday, trimming recent gains, as investors weighed the impact of earthquakes that hit Japan last week.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 10.85 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,003.86 in the first 15 minutes of trading.Bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.31 percent, and industry frontrunner Samsung Life Insurance declined 7.02 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.32 percent and cosmetics giant AmorePacific climbed 1.87 percent, keeping KO

Korea’s dependence on overseas trade fell to an eight-year low last year as export suffers setback, data showed Sunday. According to data by the Bank of Korea, the nation’s trade dependence ratio or the proportion of trade to gross national income plunged to a record 88.1 percent in 2015, down 10.5 percent points from a year earlier. It is the lowest reading since the gauge stood at 81.6 percent in 2007. The ratio had stayed at a level as high as around 90-110 percent between 2008 and 2014 as th

Hana Financial Group said Sunday that it has joined notable financial companies in a consortium to apply and standarize innovative financial technologies.The “R3 CEV” group consists of 43 financial conglomerates, including Citigroup, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and UBS. Hana Financial Group (Yonhap)Hana Financial will be participating in this group to apply emerging blockchain technology into services such as global transactions and security protection. Blockchain enables sto

Korea plans to extend its foreign exchange trading session by 30 minutes in line with its push for longer stock market trading hours, according to the nation’s chief financial policymaker. Currently, the local currency exchange market is open for six hours between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The government now seeks to extend the market hours to 3:30 p.m. “The Financial Services Commission is pushing for the extension of stock market hours, and (we) will push for that of foreign exchange trading together,

Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said that the government will aggressively push forward with restructuring financially vulnerable companies, making this its top priority with the general election over. The top fiscal policymaker added that it will begin with Korea’s shipping companies that face liquidity crises, saying that he is most concerned with Hyundai Merchant Marine, which is undergoing a self-rescue plan with conditions by its creditors. Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho (Yonhap)“I w

The head of South Korea's largest brokerage called on his own company Friday to more actively seek new investment opportunities in overseas stock markets, also revealing a plan to boost the company's overseas assets by at least 200 billion won (US$174.2 million).Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset Financial Group, said the stock market and securities firms were about to enjoy a new booming era, partly brought on by low interest rates that he said were already directing investors to stock mar

Central bank pushes scheme to cut costs and improve transparency

As bank consumers embrace digital payment methods, they are gradually turning their backs on automated teller machines, as cash machines on the street here have fallen to decline.Korea’s leading five banks ran a total of 29,611 ATMs as of the end of last year, down 4.4 percent, or 1,378, from a year earlier, according to data from the industry.The banks are Shinhan Bank, Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea.  Kookmin Bank has shut some 571 ATMs in the past three y

Mobile payments accelerate transition toward cashless society