[THE INVESTOR] Masamoto Kobayashi, chief executive of Lotte Capital, has resigned, according to Lotte Group on July 29.Kobayashi is known as the central link between the flow of funds between Lotte’s Korean and Japanese operations. “We understand he stepped down to focus on Japan’s Lotte Holdings business,” said one Lotte official, declining to be identified. Kobayashi has concurrently held the post of chief finance officer of Lotte Holdings. He was CEO of Lotte Capital since 2007 and was the on

[THE INVESTOR] The interest rate on residential property-backed loans dropped to a record low in June, Band of Korea data showed on July 28.According to the BOK, the average interest rate on residential property-backed loans dropped to 2.77 percent in June, lowest seen since the BOK began compiling related data in September 2001. The previous record low was 2.81 percent in April 2015.  (123rf)The average interest rate on all household loans dropped 0.1 percentage point from May to come in at 3.0

[THE INVESTOR] Mirae Asset Global Investments denied July 28 a report that the firm plans to take its real estate investment trust unit public next year on stock exchanges in the US and Singapore to raise multitrillion won funds to accelerate its property investment business. “We have long wished for setting up a real estate investment trust unit and its initial public offering. But we haven’t mapped out any plans,” an official at Mirae Asset Global Investments told The Investor. On July 28, a l

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Securities will launch a brokerage service on Taiwan-listed securities for institutional investors in a partnership with KGI Securities, the second-largest brokerage in Taiwan.According to Samsung Securities, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on strengthening their brokerage businesses and expanding equity research coverage at KGI Securities’ headquarters in Taiwan on July 28.　“Samsung Securities will expand its footprint to the entire Asi

[THE INVESTOR] Foreign VC Investment Fund has attracted more than 1 trillion won (US$881.87 million), the Small and Medium Business Administration announced on July 27.Foreign VC Investment Fund is fund operated by foreign venture firms that invests a set proportion in South Korean companies. The fund was first established in 2013, and about 930 billion won was gathered through 11 foreign venture capital firms. With four venture capital firms being added to the list in the first half of the year

[THE INVESTOR] Smaller and new hedge funds are making headway in South Korea, rising to rival those operated by large financial companies. According to industry sources, Anda Asset Management has attracted 288.3 billion won (US$254.41 million) over the past year to become the country’s third largest hedge fund. Anda Asset Management now trails the industry’s second-largest player Mirae Asset Securities by 109 billion won. A year ago the gap was 248.5 billion won. Anda Asset Management founder Ke

[THE INVESTOR] Anthemis Group, one of UK’s leading fintech investment firm, has joined hands with Hanwha Life to operate a US$10 million (11.3 billion won) fund. Anthemis was founded in 2010. Its main area of expertise is investing in financial services companies, mainly those in retail banking and consumer finance, data technology and infrastructure, and wealth and asset management. Hanwha Life headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.Hanwha currently manages up to 100 trillion won (US$ 87.88 billion) of