For decades, lawyer Yoon Hee-woong has built his career providing legal advice for corporations. Since joining the South Korean law firm Yulchon in 2000, he has been paving the way for large business groups to take over financial companies, especially in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2007-2008.A big deal he helped close in 2007 was retail giant Lotte’s purchase of Daehan Fire & Marine Insurance. A year later, Yoon was involved in Hyundai Motor’s takeover of Shinheung

Companies have recently restarted discussions on creating an alternative trading system in South Korea, encouraged by the government and financial sector’s moves to encourage more active trading.Neoframe, a local IT firm and home trading system developer, said Monday it had developed an ATS platform that provides the same service as the Korea Exchange, the operator of the nation’s main stock exchange.But the company will need to work with financial partners to run a trading system.Kn

The overseas branches of South Korean banks last year saw their profit climb 22.2 percent on-year, reflecting the rise in interest income, data showed Tuesday.According to market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service, the banks’ overseas net profit stood at $983 million as of end-2018, which accounted for 8 percent of their total net profit.The total asset volume of overseas businesses came to $114.25 billion, up $93.7 billion or 8.9 percent from a year earlier.“The pick-up mostly r

Eclectic makeup of two consortiums reflect trend of merging fintech with lifestyle spending

Overseas financial firms are losing their grip on the South Korean securities market, and their lackluster performance is making possible newcomers nervous amid concerns there will a mass withdrawal from the local market. Natixis, a France-based financial services provider, had announced last year its plans to enter the local securities market by the first half of 2019, but it is now reportedly skeptical. Its shift in attitude apparently stems from the almost $300 million loss from its portfolio

Chairman Shin Chang-jae struggles to block put option

South Korea’s major banking-finance groups are kicking off their annual shareholders meetings this week, with projections of smooth proceedings to formalize predetermined events including the appointment of new CEOs.The banking sector’s shareholders meetings this year see a stark change of mood from last year’s events, when high-stake issues such as group leadership changes and corporate governance problems were on the table.But the groups’ shareholders are also expected

Starting this week, South Korea’s financial watchdog is rolling out an artificial intelligence app for mobile devices that automatically detects “voice phishing” scams – a crime that last year conned members of the public out of a combined 444 billion won ($391 million).The Financial Supervisory Service, National Information Society Agency and the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea have co-developed an AI-based voice phishing detection app, which will start beta operation

South Korean stocks are expected to move in a tight range next week as investors await the US Federal Reserve's rate decision amid ongoing trade talks between Washington and Beijing, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,176.11 points Friday, up 1.8 percent from a week earlier.The index rose for four days except Wednesday following heavy losses the previous week.Investors kept a close watch on the latest developments in US-China trade negotiations and

South Korea’s second largest tire maker Kumho Tire has decided to delist its shares from the London Stock Exchange for cost efficiency, the firm said in a regulatory filing Friday. Its 76,034 shares are scheduled to be pulled out of the bourse on April 30, after which Seoul will be the only market where it will be listed, according to officials. Struck by the struggling replacement tire market last year, Kumho Tire had reported an operating loss of 89.9 billion won ($79.1 million) in

Prosecutors raided South Korea’s main bourse on Friday, as part of a probe concerning the accounting fraud by Samsung BioLogics.Officials of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office were sent to search the Korea Exchange in western Seoul, officials said. The raid, which reportedly started late Thursday, was part of a probe into Samsung BioLogics, which allegedly violated accounting rules by deliberately overstating the value of affiliate Samsung Bioepis ahead of its initia

South Korea’s export prices increased for the first time in four months in February on higher prices of petroleum products, central bank data showed Friday.The export price index stood at 82.97 last month, up 0.2 percent from the previous month, according to data released by the Bank of Korea. This marked the first on-month rise since October.Steering the gain was the petroleum products and coal sector, which saw an 8 percent hike on-month.The country’s benchmark Dubai crude reached

M. Chat -- the grinning yellow cartoon cat created by renowned French graffiti artist Thoma Vuille -- has arrived in South Korea via a collaborative partnership with KB Koomin Bank, one of the country’s major commercial banks.KB Kookmin Bank on Thursday hosted a live performance featuring Vuille painting his signature M. Chat and KB’s flagship characters “Liiv” at the facilities of the KB Rockstar Youth Lounge, an arts and culture space run by the bank in Hongdae, Seoul.

Hyundai Card, South Korea’s credit card service provider, has been selected to provide its cloud-based credit card IT system to an affiliate of IBM Japan, the firm said Thursday. Exa Systems, a Japan-based major information technology solutions provider, will now utilize Hyundai Card’s Hyundai-Advanced Library System, which was developed in consideration of Japan’s pursuit of a “cashless society,” according to the Seoul-based firm. The system was also developed ahea

South Korean hypermarket chain operator Homeplus said Thursday it has scrapped its plans to list its REIT on the nation’s main bourse, dissolving all anticipations surrounding what was expected to be the nation’s first real estate investment with an initial public offering worth more than 1 trillion won.“We have decided to cancel our plans to go public, considering that a recent survey pointed to difficult circumstances to properly assess our market value,” the firm said