Shinhan Financial Group Co., a major South Korean financial holding firm, said Wednesday it will acquire a majority stake in Orange Life, formerly known as ING Life Insurance, for 2.29 trillion won ($2.04 billion). The acquisition, which would make Shinhan Financial the nation's top financial group, is subject to regulatory approval, Shinhan Financial said in a regulatory filing.Shinhan Financial will pay 47,400 won for each of 48.5 million shares, or the 59.15 percent stake, in Orange Life, acc

The size of floating funds in the market reached a record high of 1,117.3 trillion won ($999.8 billion) as of late June, with the total unlikely to come down in the near future, official data showed Sunday.The numbers provided by the Bank of Korea and domestic financial investment firms showed that of the total, some 99 trillion won was cash, 231 trillion won was in demand deposits and 532 trillion won was in money market deposit accounts. The tally also covered money market funds, certificate o

Shrugging off concerns over overvaluation and uncertainties regarding accounting regulations, South Korea's pharmaceutical and bio companies have shown signs of regaining their presence on the stock market.On Friday, Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical affiliate of the country's largest conglomerate, Samsung, spiked 3.7 percent to end at 463,000 won ($415.66). Celltrion also surged 1.31 percent to 270,000 won, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical grew 1.84 percent to 497,500 won.  The upturn came af

Central bank holds key rate at 1.5% for nine consecutive months

Woori Bank will become South Korea’s first commercial bank to shorten its workweek to 52 hours, a step to be implemented within a yearlong grace period under a government statute designed to help employees achieve a better work-life balance.Following an agreement between the bank’s management and its labor union, Woori Bank will begin phasing in the new policy in October. Teams or branches that require assistance will be reinforced with more employees, according to the bank. In addit

South Korean brokerage house Samsung Securities is expanding the global network for esports market research to local investors amid its growing presence in the sports industry. Esports refers to a form of competition using multiplayer video games. The ongoing 2018 Asian Games feature esports as a demonstration sport. ESports will debut as a medal event at the forthcoming 2022 Asian Games.  Samsung Securities analyzes the world’s esports market by two sectors -- game software developer

South Korea’s brokerage house KB Securities was slapped the highest number of disciplinary actions among financial firms here since 2015, data showed Wednesday.  From 2015 to the end of June this year, KB Securities, which was renamed after KB Investment & Securities’ merger with Hyundai Securities, were given 18 penalties from authorities -- the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Exchange and the Fair Trade Commission. This accounted

Seoul-headquartered asset management firm Mirae Asset Global Investments has secured a foothold for its exchange traded fund-related business through acquisitions overseas.  In July, Mirae Asset’s asset management unit completed the acquisition of New York-based ETF provider Global X Management Co. LLC in a $488 million deal as announced in February. The acquisition is expected to provide an “anchor presence” in the United States ETF market. With the addition of global ETF

South Korea and Singapore will set up a fund worth at least 237.5 billion won ($213.2 million) to invest in Korean startups that seek to enter the Singaporean market and vice versa.  The state-backed fund of funds management firm Korea Venture Investment Corp. will partner with Singapore-based investment company Temasek Holdings to create the fund within six months, according to the Korean fund manager Monday.The size of the global fund could be expanded, depending on the volume of the Sing

South Korea’s securities brokerage houses reported a combined 2.7 trillion won ($2.4 billion) in net profit in the first half of this year, up 40.7 percent on-year, preliminary data showed Monday. This marked the highest half-year volume since the first half of 2007, according to data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service. The FSS is an oversight body of 55 securities trading companies in Korea. Meanwhile, the companies saw leverage ratio rise and financial stability decline throug

The Korea Federation of Banks on Sunday expressed hopes for local commercial banks’ annual offshore net income from financial branch network operations and investments to mark a record this year.In the first half of 2018, four Korean commercial banks -- Shinhan, Woori, KEB Hana and KB Kookmin -- logged 527.2 billion won ($471.4 million) in net profits from offshore branches and investments overseas through investment banking and assets management. The figure soared 5 percent from the first

Costco Wholesale Korea, the South Korean unit of the US wholesaler, has chosen Hyundai Card as its partner starting next year, according to the Korean card firm Friday. Following Costco’s single-network credit card policy, the new 10-year contract will put an end to the wholesaler’s partnership with Samsung Card, which has been in place since 2000, once it takes effect May 24, 2019. Hyundai card said an in-house team devoted to private-label credit cards and data analysis had he

The number of vendors that use the card income management system Cashnote topped 100,000 as of Friday, according to the service provider, financial technology startup Korea Credit Data, Sunday. Cashnote is an add-on function for the mobile messenger service KakaoTalk. It helps merchants collect and manage card income records from different card companies and process charges efficiently. As of Friday, Cashnote had managed a cumulative total of 22 trillion won ($19.7 billion) in card income f

South Korean shares are expected to move in a tight range next week amid a lack of clear cut momentum and investors' cautious stance on the ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China, analysts here said Saturday.  The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,293.21 on Friday, losing 10.61 points, or 0.46 percent. The main index ended in the positive territory this week, posting a 2.05 percent gain from a week earlier. Foreigners bought 567.76 billion won ($507

Goldman Sachs has sold his new European headquarters, opening next year in London, to South Korea's National Pension Service for $1.5 billion, the US investment bank has said.Goldman added in a statement that it would lease back the building, worth $1.165 billion ($1.502 billion, 1.297 billion euros), in a deal lasting up to 25 years."The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today announced it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale and leaseback of Plumtree Court with Korea's National Pensio