Deposits in accounts hit new high amid anticipation building on game developer’s market debut

JB Financial Group said Monday it has launched a brokerage unit through its newly acquired Morgan Stanley Gateway Securities, a midsized brokerage firm headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam. It has changed the company name to JB Securities Vietnam as part of a move to officially start operations, the group added.  Earlier in April, the banking group paid for its 100 percent stake in MSGS -- previously owned by global investment bank Morgan Stanley -- and recently received final approval from

South Korean shares opened sharply higher Monday on hopes of an economic rebound, despite the government's implementation of toughened social distancing measures. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 22.97 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,376.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Investor sentiment ran high in the wake of the US Fed Reserve's shift of stance signaling that it will stay accommodative for longer even if US inflation exceeds its target level of 2 percent.

With barista robot and AI-powered assistant, card company pursues work efficiency, human creativity at office

South Korea’s 10 largest stocks trading on the main bourse Kospi are seeing its combined market cap account for 45 percent of Kospi constitutents‘ total market cap as local retail investors flock to the large-caps betting on changes in the domestic industry. According to data by the Korea Exchange, the top 10 large-caps on the Kospi stock market took up 44.78 percent of Kospi’s market cap on average in August, up over 11 percentage points on-year. The figure has been on a co

South Korean shares closed higher Friday on the US Fed Reserve's dovish gesture, but gains were trimmed due to the heightened social distancing level in the greater Seoul area. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 9.35 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 2,353.8. Trading volume was high at about 1.3 billion shares worth some 15.3 trillion won ($12.9 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 583 to 253. Foreigners sold a net 2

The market price of large-sized apartments in Seoul surpassed the 2 billion won ($1.69 million) mark in August, reflecting the unsubdued housing price rally in popular areas, industry data showed Friday. According to the monthly housing price trend report by KB Kookmin Bank, the average transaction price for large-sized apartments came to 2.03 billion won, exceeding the milestone for the first time since the bank started tallying such data in 2016. The latest figure was up 171.54 million w

Viva Republica, operator of mobile fintech platform Toss, said Friday that it has raised $173 million in new funding from multiple investors to drive its new initiative to open a comprehensive financial service application. Investors participating in the fundraise include Aspex Management, Sequoia Capital China, Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and Greyhound Capital. Despite the pandemic-sparked market turmoil, the latest funding marks the single larges

South Korean shares opened higher Friday, taking a cue from overnight gains on Wall Street, despite concerns over the rising new COVID-19 cases at home. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 13.12 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,357.57 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks traded bullish, after the index plunged 1.05 percent the previous session due to spreading new COVID-19 cases. Investor sentiment strengthened on an overnight speech by Federal Reserve Chairman

Banks and brokerages that handled fund products by a local asset manager said Thursday they will return the principals on investments made by consumers, in line with the advisory issued by the country's financial regulator. Hana Bank, Woori Bank, Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. and Shinhan Investment Corp. said their boards accepted calls to provide full refunds in regard to the misselling scandal centered on Lime Asset Management Co. The dispute settlement board at the Financial Supervisory Service c

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Thursday its temporary ban on short-selling activities of all listed Korean shares will be extended to March 2021, immediately after the current six-month restriction expires in September. The Financial Services Commission’s decision is meant to keep the stock market volatility at bay as the impact of the coronavirus still persists across the nation. The decision was made as FSC collected written agreements from its commissioners after the

NH Investment & Securities, a brokerage unit of South Korea’s NongHyup Financial Group, decided Thursday to offer up to 70 percent of funds invested in now-frozen Optimus Asset Management’s funds via the firm. Stressing its ethical, not legal, responsibility as the seller of the troubled fund, the company said it would pay 30-70 percent of investment funds to retail and corporate investors in advance. The payment is not a sort of compensation, but is designed to provide financi

South Korean shares ended a four-session winning streak Thursday, as the daily new virus cases in the country spiked to a nearly six-month high. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 24.87 points, or 1.05 percent, to close at 2,344.45. Trading volume was high at about 898 million shares worth some 14.9 trillion won ($12.6 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 725 to 152. Foreigners sold a net 24 billion won, ending a four

KB Financial Group said Thursday that it has received approval from the Financial Services Commission to acquire Prudential Life Insurance of Korea. In April, the Korean financial giant inked a deal with Prudential to buy a 100 percent stake in the insurance company for some 2.3 trillion won ($1.94 billion). It is scheduled to pay for the acquisition by Monday. When the deal closes, the insurance firm will become the financial group’s 13th subsidiary. The takeover of the nation&rsquo

Macquarie Investment Management has named Bastiaan Jeroen van Buuren as its new chief executive to oversee its Korean operation, a filing showed Thursday. The change of leadership has been effective since Aug. 18. Van Buuren replaced Lee Kyung-soo, who served for 16 months at the top post. Joining the Australian asset management house in 2018, van Buuren was head of Asia Distribution based in Hong Kong. He joined Macquarie IM Korea’s board in June 2020. Macquarie IM acquired ING Inve