More than 650,000 Koreans have opened Individual Savings Accounts over the past week since the tax-efficient scheme was launched March 14. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on Sunday, the number of people who subscribed to an ISA account was 658,040 as of Friday and their combined deposits exceeded 320 billion won ($280 million). Even though the daily subscriptions slowed down day by day, the average subscription amount surged from 340,000 won to 490,000 won. Cash ISAs made

Skeptics question the merits of servicing foreign community

The Financial Services Commission is expected to devise a policy that enables financial professionals to start their own investment advisory ventures, in the second half of this year, according to the country’s regulators on Sunday.The FSC will seek to introduce a revised law to boost independent financial advisory services in the local capital market for legislation by the end of May.The IFA revision will allow employees of financial services companies to set up and operate investment advisory

Mirae Asset Securities is expected to participate in a bid for Hyundai Securities through its investment in a private equity fund, according to news reports Sunday.The brokerage, which recently took over Daewoo Securities from the state-run Korea Development Bank, has reportedly decided to invest about 500 billion won ($430 million) in LK Investment Partners private equity for the acquisition.LK, KB Financial Group and Korea Investment Holdings have submitted their letters of intent to purchase

Over 300 listed firms hold shareholders meeting, but no drama

 Standard Chartered chairman John Peace said in Seoul on Friday that the U.K. banking service group is committed to the Korean market, brushing off industry speculation that it might sell its Korean unit.“Korea is a key market force. We’re committed to staying and growing our business here in Korea,” Peace said at a forum hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce in Korea.Market suspicion is that Standard Chartered Bank Korea could be a target of mergers and acquisitions, following the Korean un

Eugene Corp., the country’s largest ready-mix concrete-maker, raised its stake in its takeover target Tong Yang to more than 10 percent, making it the company’s largest shareholder, local reports said Friday. Eugene upped its stake by 0.7 percentage point to 10.01 through the acquisition of a 0.6 percentage point stake from Aju Group and open market purchases. The move comes only a few days after Eugene publicly declared its intention to secure control of the smaller ready-mix rival. Shares in T

Global courier giants DHL and UPS are among the suitors who submitted preliminary offers for Logen Logistics, Korea’s fourth-largest package delivery firm, local reports said Friday. Private equity funds Affinity Equity Partners, CVC Capital Partners and Seoul-based STIC Investment also took part in the first round of bidding that closed Thursday, they said. Logen is 100 percent owned by Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia. J.P. Morgan is Baring’s adviser for the sale.The reports put Loge

Mirae Asset Financial Group, a local financial service provider, has agreed to take over two units of state-run Korea Development Bank for 2.38 trillion won ($2.05 billion). (Yonhap)Mirae Asset previously signed with the state-run bank to take over a 43 percent stake in KDB Daewoo Securities and all of KDB Daewoo Management for a combined 2.45 trillion won. The price was cut by 66.7 billion won, or 2.72 percent, after the value of some of Daewoo Asset‘s overseas assets and local properties was f

South Korean share prices edged up on Friday following overnight gains on Wall Street.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 5.22 points, or 0.26 percent, to 1,992.52 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The KOSPI was trading nearly flat at 1990.23 points as of 10:38 a.m. Traders monitor share prices at a local bank. (Yonhap)Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.90 percent to 17,481.49, while the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.23 percent to 4,774.98.Analysts sai

The Financial Services Commission said on Thursday that it held a closed-door meeting with officials from the Financial Supervisory Service, Bank of Korea and state research institutions to evaluate the country’s mortgage levels and housing market.The officials also met to resolve a misunderstanding that the country’s financial authority has been toughening its rules on loans amid a housing oversupply and high household debt.The FSC reiterated its stance that it has not enforced any regulations

Samsung C&T on Thursday denied rumors that it was in talks with paint group KCC to sell its residential construction business. “We’re not considering any sale of our residential construction business to KCC or the (rumored) establishment of a joint venture with the firm,” the Seoul-based firm said in a regulatory filing. KCC, which has a construction business affiliate KCC Engineering & Construction, also denied in a separate filing any talks with Samsung regarding the matters.Rumors have been c

An average Korean household holds 300,000 won ($255) in cash, a Bank of Korea survey shows. Those with heads of households who are older tend to hold larger amounts of cash for both payment and emergency uses. Households headed by those in their 50s keep 400,000 won -- the largest amount of cash -- at home.When it comes to the ratio of cash holdings to monthly income, households headed by seniors aged 60 or older keep 16.4 percent of their earnings in cash, the highest proportion across age grou

A loss-making apparel company’s mysterious nine-day rally on KOSDAQ has many investors questioning the stability of the country’s secondary bourse, which last year pulled off one of the world’s best gains. Codes Combine shares skyrocketed in suspicious moves, leading the entire index to faze with market distortions. The bourse operator Korea Exchange is currently looking into the seemingly unexplainable rally, suspecting a potential price-rigging scheme. Shares in Codes Combine plunged 30 percen

Korean shares hit a yearly high on Thursday, buoyed by increased demand for risky assets following the Federal Reserve's decision to freeze rates, with the local currency also climbing to this year's highest level against the U.S. dollar. After hitting an intraday high of 2,000.30 in late morning trade, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished 13.09 points, or 0.66 percent, higher at 1,987.99. The Korean currency closed at 1,173.30 against the greenback, up 20.00 won, or 1.68 per