Kakao Bank, the banking arm of mobile giant Kakao, on Wednesday said that its board decided to extend CEO Yoon Ho-young’s term for another two years. Yoon has led the country’s second internet-only bank since 2016. On Tuesday, the board also appointed three new members -- Jin Woong-sub, former head of the Financial Services Commission, Oh Pyeong-seob, former vice president of KB Kookmin Bank, and Choi Soo-yeol, a partner at Samdo Accounting Firm.  By Park Ga-young (gypark@h

South Korea said Wednesday it aims to acquire core technologies in eco-friendly energy sectors, such as highly-efficient solar panels and large-scale wind turbines, to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. Last year, South Korea unveiled its carbon neutrality goal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and nurture eco-friendly industries. Under the plan, the country aims to develop new technologies to meet its target, such as improving efficiency in solar panels from the current level of 27 percent to

South Korean stocks retreated Wednesday on the increase in the value of US currency and the valuation pressure of local stocks. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.58 points, or 0.28 percent, to close at 3,061.42 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.1 billion shares worth some 14.2 trillion won ($12.5 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 476 to 378. Foreigners sold a net 297 billion won, while retail investo

The booming adoption of digital coins by institutional players pushed the price of a bitcoin to new heights Wednesday. Bitcoin soared to a record high of 71.6 million won ($63,200) in the morning Wednesday, according to Upbit, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange that trades 184 coins. Wednesday’s rally came after a series of institutional endorsements from big players in various industries that began earlier this year. On Tuesday, PayPal, which has 375 million users, launched a

South Korea's consumer prices are not expected to sharply rise to top the central bank's 2 percent target even as the country faces upward inflationary pressure, a senior government official said Wednesday. First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said prices of agricultural and livestock products are expected to stabilize on the back of efforts to increase supply and curb the spread of bird flu. "There is a limited possibility that the growth of consumer inflation will surpass the Bank

‘Resumption of short selling unlikely to cause major disruptions’

South Korea said Wednesday it has launched a committee on carbon neutrality with automobile firms in line with efforts to effectively reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050. The committee will pave the way for the government to expand cooperation with local carmakers, including Hyundai Motor Group, in rolling out policies related to carbon neutrality, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. "In the long term, we plan to beef up our competitiveness in the electric and hyd

The South Korean bourse operator said Wednesday that it will check on its regulations on stock short selling, a trading technique that has been temporarily banned here since March last year, before its resumption in May. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) banned short selling of stocks from March 16 for a six-month period, in a move to ease a market rout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary ban was extended twice until May 2, and short selling is set to resume on May 3. "W

A multistrategy hedge fund by a South Korean manager logged the highest annual net return for 2020 in the Asia-Pacific region, data showed Wednesday. The hedge fund, Gudo TAO Fund 1, net returned 124.99 percent, topping the list of Asia-Pacific-based multistrategy hedge funds through 2020, according to data from international market data tracker Preqin. The fund outperformed peers managed by Singapore’s Caygan Capital as well as Hong Kong‘s Factorial Management and BRIC Neutron A

Despite advocacy work on climate action, the Bank of Korea turned out to have lagged behind major economies in terms of concrete policy actions to limit financing for businesses with climage-related risks, a report showed Wednesday. According to a list of the Group of 20 nations ranked by green initiatives -- published by the non-profit Positive Money, the Bank of Korea took 13th place with the aggregate score of 11 out of 130, giving it a rating of D- on a scale of F to A+.  China top

South Korea's terms of trade rose for the 11th consecutive month in February, as exports have shown signs of a gradual recovery, central bank data showed Wednesday. The nation's net terms-of-trade index for goods -- a gauge of trade terms -- increased 6.4 percent last month from a year earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the 11th straight month of an on-year rise since April last year, when the trade terms logged the first on-year hike in over two yea

Non-life insurers' loss rate for their car insurance businesses dropped last year, thanks to fewer car accidents amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Wednesday. The nation's 12 non-life insurers posted an average loss rate of 85.7 percent last year, compared with 92.9 percent a year ago, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The loss rate refers to the proportion of coverage a non-life insurer pays to its policyholders from insurance premiums. The higher the loss

South Korea's central bank said Wednesday the portion of its US dollar-denominated assets in its overall foreign assets declined last year due to the weakness of the greenback. At the end of last year, dollar-denominated holdings accounted for 67.7 percent of overall foreign assets held by the Bank of Korea (BOK), the central bank said in its annual report. The reading marks a 1.4 percentage-point drop from a year earlier. The portion of US dollar-denominated assets slightly fell due to a wea

The combined value of KB Asset Management’s environmental, social and corporate governance funds exceeded 3 trillion won ($2.7 billion), the South Korean company said Wednesday. Its ESG-themed funds pooled investments worth some 600 billion won during the first quarter alone, added the Seoul-based asset management firm. In terms of the assets under its management, funds targeting alternative assets came to 2.1 trillion won, while those dedicated to equities and exchange-traded funds at

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki has forecast domestic demand and the job market will gradually improve as the country is on a recovery track amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Wednesday. Hong made the assessment during his online meeting Tuesday with Alastair Wilson, managing director and head of the sovereign risk group of global rating agency Moody's Investors Service. The country held its annual consultation meetings with Moody's between March 25 and 30 over its economic conditions a