South Korean investments in the European office market increased 152 percent as of November on-year, buoyed by a currency-swap premium, but is projected to decline and diversify next year, commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield said Wednesday. “Around 18 trillion won ($16.5 billion) was invested in the overseas office building market so far this year and European properties accounted for 86 percent of the total volume,” Philip Jin, head of research at the Kor

16 local banks, 31 fintech firms offer innovative financial service via open access

Some members of the central bank's rate-setting board see the need for additional steps to boost the country's economic growth and consumer price hikes down the road, minutes from the board's latest meeting showed Tuesday, indicating a possible rate cut in the near future.According to the minutes from the latest meeting of the Bank of Korea monetary policy board, at least three members of the seven-member board expressed concerns over the country's slowing growth and low consumer price growth.Th

Hyundai Card, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has jointly launched an exclusive credit card with flag carrier Korean Air, officials said Tuesday.“Korean Air and Hyundai Card have launched a private label credit card (PLCC) and signed a partnership agreement. Hyundai Card will be in charge of marketing and operations,” the credit card firm said.PLCC refers to a credit card branded for a specific retailer, independent dealer or manufacturer. While partnership cards involve the com

The Korea Herald is publishing a regular contribution series written by senior investment strategists at Standard Chartered Group Wealth Management. -- Ed.We believe the three- to six-month outlook for global equities, credit and other income-generating assets looks favorable. This is based on our view that global growth prospects are stabilizing after a period of downgrades, event risks are declining and the US Federal Reserve has injected significant dollar liquidity into the global financial

Online-only banking sector to face increased competitiveness

Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers, the local unit of the world’s largest accounting firm, said Monday that it has published a report on its sustainable business operations and accomplishments in 2019. While reinforcing the External Audit of Stock Companies Act and the stewardship code adopted by the National Pension Service, the firm said it would implement a business model that fulfills accounting transparency and raises environmental, social and governance levels. The report covers four

JB Financial Group has acquired a Vietnam-based brokerage owned by Morgan Stanley, in line with its recent moves to expand business in the Southeast Asian region, officials said Monday.The holding group of North Jeolla Province-based JB Jeonbuk Bank thereby became the first provincial banking group here to own a comprehensive overseas financial network comprising banking, capital and securities.A public announcement was made Monday that JB Financial had recently signed a sales and purchase agree

South Korean listed companies bought back their own shares worth almost 20 trillion won ($17 billion) in total in the past three years, with Samsung Electronics buying back the most, data showed Monday. A stock buyback occurs when a company seeks to increase its stock price and consolidate ownership, which benefits the shareholders with larger dividends.From January 2017 through August 2019, a total of 676 listed firms here bought back 19.6 trillion won worth of their own shares, according to th

Firms with higher ESG ratings expected to increase profits amid NPS’ adoption of code

FSS says 6 banks failed to provide 4 local businesses with adequate information about risks, proposes payment of W25.5b

South Korean budget app Bank Salad said Friday it will start providing tie-up services with internet-only Kakao Bank later this month, allowing users to manage their online bank accounts more efficiently in line with the launch of open banking services.Financial technology firm Rainist, which operates Bank Salad, had launched a task force to prepare for the services in partnership with Kakao Bank, ahead of Dec. 18, when financial authorities will formally greenlight operations of open banking se

Seoul stocks extended gains late Friday morning as investor sentiment was further boosted by reports of an imminent US-China trade deal. The Korean won gained further against the US dollar.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 29.08 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,166.43 as of 11:20 a.m.  The main index opened higher and gained further for a sixth straight session as the United States and China are reportedly getting very close to signing a trade deal, with US P

South Korea said Thursday that it has decided to allow banks to sell equity-linked trusts worth less than 40 trillion won ($33.7 billion) in total in the latest move to better protect individual investors.The Financial Services Commission said ELTs whose underlying assets should be the KOSPI200, the S&P500 and three other major indices, and which are issued through public offerings, can be sold at banks. Three other stock indices are the Euro Stoxx 50, the HSCEI and Japan's Nikkei 225.

Among emerging market stocks, South Korean shares were most offloaded by overseas investors last month as a result of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s reduced weighting in the Morgan Stanley Capital International emerging markets index, a report by a local brokerage said Thursday.According to Yuanta Securities, foreigners net sold South Korean shares worth nearly $3 billion in November alone, which marked the largest volume among 10 major emerging markets during the same period.