Citibank Korea was named "Best Foreign Bank in Korea" in 2018 FinanceAsia Country Awards, a prestigious financial magazine. Citibank Korea has won the award a total of nine times between 2008 and this year.According to FinanceAsia, Citibank Korea reported a 15% year-on-year increase in annual net income, thanks to a staggering 192% jump in non-interest income including foreign exchange and derivatives gains, as well as investment and insurance product sales. At

This is the 59th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed.Asia Pacific Satellite, a communications satellite hardware manufacturer based in Seoul, has seen swift recovery following a plunge in the past few weeks. While the stock price has suffered a heavy fluctuation, analysts have said the future market performance of the manufacturer has a reason for an upsurge, on anticipation for an upcoming introduction of fifth-generational network her

Samsung Securities on Thursday was fined 144 million won ($128,500) and imposed a six-month suspension for parts of its business by the financial authorities over a failure to prevent a dividend fiasco that broke out in April this year. The brokerage arm of Samsung conglomerate will be banned from brokering equity securities transactions of new investors from Friday to Jan. 26, 2019, according to the Financial Services Commission. Incumbent Chief Executive Koo Sung-hoon was slapped with a three-

South Korean brokerage house Samsung Securities is stepping up its support of foreign investors seeking investment opportunities in North Korea. The efforts are being spearheaded by the securities firm’s in-house North Korea Investment Strategy Research Team, established on June 8 as a first in the securities industry here. A recent example is a session on July 19 targeting officials of private equity funds or asset management firms, during the two-day AVCJ Private Equity & Venture For

To the young generation increasingly placing work-life balance over career progression or income, an airline miles credit card could be attractive to those who make more overseas trips, Standard Chartered Bank Korea said in a release. The Korean unit of the London-based banking giant has offered its flagship airline miles card since March, called Plus Mile, so that miles earned can be used for airlines in Korea. The card offers a maximum bonus of 3.5 miles to fly with Asiana Airlines o

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 19th installment. -- Ed.Offshore institutional investors have often come across a lack of financial information about South Korean securities when building an investment portfolio for Asian markets.Some 3 million privately held Korean companies are barely on the map. Relevance from overflowing information about listed companies in Korea -- largely embellished -- was also

The Kospi, a benchmark index representing South Korea’s top-tier market, experienced the most bearish first half this year in five years, data showed Monday.From January to June, the Kospi fell 5.7 percent to 2,326.13, the sharpest since a 6.7 percent drop in the first half of 2013, according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange. Analysts cited a market impact from US-China trade war threats and strengthening US dollar that are associated with sluggish earnings of local manufacturers in

S&P DJI executive says ‘earnings screening’ can ensure quality of small-cap indexes

South Korea's 30 richest stockholders have lost more than 10 trillion won ($8.81 billion) combined in the value of their shares this year amid a bearish equities market, data showed Sunday.As of last Wednesday, the aggregated value of shares owned by the top 30 stockholders stood at 77.69 trillion won, down 11.84 percent from the end of last year, according to the local financial information provider FnGuide Inc.The benchmark KOSPI has lost 7.19 percent this year, dropping to 2,290.11. On the fi

A South Korean company’s proclaimed discovery of the armored Russian cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi that was scuttled off the sea near the Korean islet Ulleungdo in 1905 has disrupted local stock market.The stock price of Jeil Steel Mfg, a rolling steel product maker listed on the second-tier Kosdaq, fluctuated throughout this week on the rumored connection with Shinil Group, the Korean company that claimed to have found the sunken vessel.  Jeil Steel Mfg sank 20.5 percent Thursday in closin

South Korea’s Securities and Futures Commission on Wednesday approved SK Holdings’ 51.5 billion-won ($45.6 million) deal plan, putting the matter up for final regulatory decision by the top regulator, the Financial Services Commission. SK Holdings’ deal is designed to sell off its controlling stake of brokerage house SK Securities to local private equity firm J&W Partners. As the SFC approved the eligibility of J&W Partners as the securities firm’s major sharehold

A total of 281 officials of listed companies have been caught for unfair stock trading over the past three years, data by the state watchdog showed Wednesday.Between 2015 and 2017, the Financial Supervisory Service caught 184 executives and 97 employees of the listed firms for illegal acts involving stock trading. Of them, 30.6 percent were from companies listed on the main KOSPI bourse (43 executives and 25 employees), while 69.4 percent worked for KOSDAQ-listed firms (129 executives and 66 emp

The South Korean district court has issued an arrest warrant for Ra Jeong-chan, chief executive of Korean biotech firm Nature Cell, on allegations that he manipulated stock market using false and misleading company information since 2017. This came after the prosecution sought an arrest warrant against Ra on Friday. Ra has been under custody for interrogation since Tuesday. The company said in a disclosure Wednesday it has nominated an acting CEO, adding that no allegations had been proven.Ra is

Credit unions will adopt stricter guidelines for mortgage loans next week, officials said Tuesday, in the government's latest effort to rein in household debt.The stricter lending calculation for home mortgages, called the Debt Service Ratio, uses a new system that measures all debt principal and interest payments as a proportion of annual income.Financial authorities said the DSR system, which was already adopted at commercial banks in March, better assesses a borrower's repayment ability and r

Panelists from academic circles at a roundtable discussion Monday called on financial authorities to lower the regulatory bar for South Korea’s digital banks, which face difficulties in launching new financial services due to failures in raising capital.Among issues at debate were calls to ease regulation on nonfinancial firms’ maximum ownership of banking firms, with some panelists saying such a regulation is outmoded. The ban was put in place to prevent companies from using banks a