As warnings of a bursting bubble and toughening state regulations have led to a drastic downturn of South Korea's digital currency market, local exchanges are struggling over how to remain viable going forward.Some have moved to diversify their businesses by making the most out of blockchain technology, but a series of incidents that have damaged public trust in the system seems to be holding them back, market watchers said Sunday.  Last week, Bithumb announced the withdrawal of its planned

PureChain, a ledger-free blockchain running on an inter-device communication system, seeks to tokenize its first business that it expects to shape the “gift economy,” its developers said Thursday.Called “Colorchain,” the new decentralized platform by Singapore-headquartered Pax Datatech will have its tokens distributed using PureChain’s technology that does not require a third-party consensus or a process for user authentication.PureChain is a decentralized system p

Citibank Korea Inc. said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter of this year rose 6.7 percent on-year, helped by stringent cost-cutting efforts.　Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., posted a net profit of 73 billion won (US$6.8 million) for the January-March quarter.　Its net interest margin (NIM), a measurement of profitability, climbed 0.08 percentage point on-quarter to 2.78 percent last quarter, the bank said. 　Citibank Korea has closed 90 of its 126 retail-bank

Large and mid-cap South Korean stocks set to be added to global and regional equity indexes by MSCI moderately rallied Tuesday, after an announcement by the US index publisher to rebalance its indexes. 　MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, is an American provider support tool widely used as investment guidance.　In the May 2018 Semi-Annual Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes released Monday, MSCI unveiled five Korean won-denominated shares to be added starting June 1. New to

COMMEMORATING CULTURAL HERITAGE -- The state-owned Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. unveiled Monday in Seoul commemorative medals that depict a now-defunct Korean consulate in Washington, built some 130 years ago. The cultural heritage building was repatriated by the government in 2012, about a century after being sold to the US upon the start of Japanese occupation in 1910. (Yonhap)

This is the 55th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. While leading sectors of South Korea’s second-tier stock market Kosdaq have suffered downward pressure over the past few weeks, some powerhouses have pulled through.One of the firms is Koh Young Technology, which has striven to make a linear growth since it was listed a decade ago. On the back of it was its earnings increase with its unrivaled tech prowess suitable for manufact

Major financial firms are poised to kick off massive recruiting in the latter half of this year, industry sources said Sunday, after allegations of illicit hiring caused many lenders to hold off offering jobs in the past. According to the financial industry sources, the nation's four major banks -- KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank -- are preparing to hire a large of number of junior employees for this year. The hiring process had temporarily been frozen since late l

Rapidly spreading global trade protectionism and South Korea's growing household debt are major risks now facing country's financial system, a survey showed Sunday.According to the poll of 72 market watchers of financial officials, researchers and investors conducted by the Bank of Korea, 76 percent said intensifying trade pressure and global protectionism was the biggest problem facing the country. The rate was 26 percent in a survey held in November last year.Asia's fourth-largest economy is o

Foreigners turned net sellers of South Korean stocks in April from a month earlier, with their stock holdings on the local exchanges reaching 32 percent of all listed shares, the financial regulator said Saturday. Last month, foreign investors sold a net 2.204 trillion won ($2.1 billion) worth of local stocks, a reversal from net purchases of 123 billion won worth of stocks a month earlier, data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed. By country, British investors sold the most, at a net

A war of words between the nation’s financial watchdog and Samsung BioLogics intensified Thursday over the legitimacy of authorities disclosing the biotech company’s alleged accounting fraud, further raising already heightened market fears.The Financial Supervisory Service found itself cornered, with officials at the upper echelon turning a cold shoulder, saying that its decision to reveal the content of a preliminary notice sent to Samsung has caused “market chaos.”On Ma

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 14th installment. - Ed.The advent of financial technology has minimized a South Korean smartphone user’s effort to manually collect personal information registered across the Web when submitting filings needed to buy a financial product online.Upon agreement by a user who logged on to a financial company‘s website, his or her set of private information from pu

Reformist scholar hints at FSS’ independence from top regulator FSC

South Korea’s financial watchdog said Tuesday it will take legal actions against Samsung Securities for failing to operate with due internal standards for safe electronic financial transactions, which had resulted in a dividend fiasco last month involving the trade of unauthorized shares worth tens of billions of won. Such flaws are respectively violations of the Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies and the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, according to the Financial Sup

South Korea’s financial regulator is likely to decide the fate of Samsung BioLogics on May 23 at the earliest over allegations that the company had doctored its accounting books. The nation’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission, said it would review the case by holding an in-house oversight panel next Thursday. If a breach of accounting regulations is found, the Securities and Futures Commission, a legal entity within the FSC, will decide the level of penalty i

The Mongolian Stock Exchange chief hailed South Korean financial companies’ engagement with its fledging stock market as a “positive catalyst” in its search for increased attention from foreign investors. Speaking in an interview with The Korea Herald, Altai Khangai, chief executive officer of the MSE, cited the initial public offering of LendMN, Mongolia’s first financial technology company that began trading in March, as well as another upcoming IPO involving Korean inv