Woori Financial Group is taking a cautious approach in naming the new chief of its flagship banking business due largely to the recent debacle involving the sale of high-risk private funds, according to industry sources Wednesday. The group initially planned to complete the appointment of an Woori Bank CEO before the Lunar New Year holidays, which fall Jan. 24-27. The Financial Supervisory Service is scheduled to convene a meeting Thursday to decide the punishments for the heads of two local com

US investment firm Capital Group Companies has offloaded a 2.56 percent stake in South Korea’s largest carmaker Hyundai Motor for 660.8 billion won ($570.9 million), according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.  With the stock sale, Capital Group, through its 32 specially related parties including funds and subsidiaries, now owns 4.54 percent voting rights in Hyundai Motor, which controls car brands Hyundai, Genesis and Kia. This comes as a result of over 300 transactions by th

The Korean Reinsurance Co. (Korean Re), a leading domestic reinsurance firm here, announced the launch of its Shanghai office on Wednesday. The opening came after it received approval from China’s banking and insurance authorities in December. The new office is the second Chinese location for the Korean firm, which has run its business in Beijing since 1997. The new branch will be in charge of sales while the Beijing office will continue to lead the management and market research.The

The recent passage of bills on personal data and credit information of individuals by the National Assembly will likely give a boost to fintech giants and startups in South Korea, according to analysts.The three revised bills regarding the protection of private information, information and communications networks, and the use and protection of credit information will allow companies as well as government agencies to utilize personal information for various research and business purposes without

Ministry calls for revamping the statistical system to reflect demographic changes

Local fund operator Lime Asset Management has recently decided to freeze an additional 500 billion won ($431.4 million) of its funds, prompting the Financial Supervisory Service to launch a new probe of the firm’s risky funds.With the suspension of withdrawals, the total volume of the fund operator’s delayed payments to investors has risen to nearly 2 trillion won. In its latest notice sent to financial institutions that had worked as sales channels, Lime Asset said it has decided to

Hanwha Systems reached a final close on its cross-border $25 million investment in California-based electric takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft developer Overair, the Korean aero systems firm said Wednesday.With the investment, Hanwha Systems will own a 30 percent stake in the US company, which currently runs a development project for eVTOL vehicle Butterfly. The close of Overair’s Series A funding round came immediately after it gained a “deemed export” license from the B

Foreign investors have raked in some 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) worth of South Korean stocks this year on improved economic outlook and the imminent signing of a preliminary Sino-American trade deal, data showed Wednesday. During the Jan. 2-14 period, foreigners net purchased a total of 1.52 trillion won worth of local stocks, continuing their buying streak for an eighth straight session through Tuesday."Foreign buying has been strong on hopes for further progress in the US-China trade

The number of banknotes and coins destroyed due to damage or contamination reached a 10-year high in 2019, with the face value of the damaged bills and coins growing slightly from a year earlier, the central bank said Wednesday.The Bank of Korea said it had to replace some 640 million banknotes and coins in the year, the most since 2009 and up 2.2 percent from about 630 million a year earlier.The combined face value of the damaged money came to a little over 4.35 trillion won ($3.75 billion), up

A moderate increase in global oil prices sparked by US-Iran tensions is likely to help boost South Korea's exports, a trade association said Wednesday.A 10 percent hike in global oil prices will lead to a 3.2 percent rise in South Korea's outbound shipments, according to the Korea International Trade Association. The trade surplus, however, will narrow as its imports will increase by a slightly higher rate of 3.3 percent.Earlier this month, the benchmark Dubai crude shot up to nearly $70 pe

South Korea's export prices slightly increased from a month earlier in December, ending a three-month drop, central bank data showed Wednesday.The export price index, in terms of Korean won, came to 97.54 in the month, up 0.8 percent from revised 96.74 in November, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The increase follows three consecutive months of on-month decline since September. However, it comes largely on the weakening of the won against the US dollar that pushed up prices

South Korea's jobless rate remained flat at 3.4 percent in December, but Asia's fourth-largest economy reported a stronger-than-expected job growth last month with job additions coming to 516,000, data showed Wednesday.It was the strongest monthly job additions in five years and four months, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.The unemployment rate for young adults -- those aged between 15 and 29 -- fell to 7.3 percent last month from 8.3 percent tallied a year earlier. For all of

The fundraising plan of Seoul-based investment bank Hi Investment & Securities to fetch a combined 217.5 billion won ($187.8 million) is facing obstacles due to a possible court injunction.A total of 16 plaintiffs are seeking legal action to halt Hi Investment & Securities’ plan to raise 100 billion won by issuing 62.5 million redeemable and convertible preference shares, the investment bank said in a disclosure Tuesday.The Busan District Court will make a final ruling on the matte

Influencer marketer Marketit said Tuesday that it has attracted 5 billion won ($4.3 million) from investors including AlpenRoute Asset Management.AlpenRoute was one of the early investors in Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind global pop sensation BTS, and Market Kurly, a startup unicorn that operates a grocery delivery platform. With the new funding, the startup has secured 7 billion won in total investments, according to officials.It plans to advance its data management systems and r

South Korea will draw up private sector infrastructure projects worth 17 trillion won ($14.7 billion) this year in a bid to spur an economic recovery through investments, the finance ministry said Tuesday.Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol made the remarks at a meeting with relevant officials on infrastructure projects earlier in the day.Among the new infrastructure projects under review are 13.5 trillion won worth of major roads and railways and 3.5 trillion won worth of environment-related bu