Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Tuesday it signed an agreement with a city-funded women rights organization to nurture young talent and foster the development of the tech-driven financial services sector. Under the memorandum of understanding, the bank and Seoul Foundation of Women and Family will jointly run an incubator program dubbed Women in FinTech Academy, which is to target young women who aspire to launch fintech startups. The program is expected to increase women’s stake in

Amid soaring financing demand in the Asia-Pacific region, international private debt investors should weigh in on the sector with local presence to address differences in language, currency and legal system.

Shinhan Financial Group said Monday it has dedicated its first chunk of a 240 billion-won fund ($215 million) into a wind turbine project, as part of an ongoing initiative to support the government’s New Deal programs. The Shinhan Green New Deal Fund was designed to double down investments in the renewable energy sector for the country to achieve sustainable development after the COVID-19 pandemic. Affiliates of Shinhan Financial Group including Shinhan Bank and Shinhan Life Insurance

Standard Chartered Bank Korea will extend a special promotion aimed at helping young customers build better savings habits for an extra month until end-May, the lender said Sunday. The promotion, which was initially planned to run from March to April, offers 10,000 won ($9) to those aged 18 or under who open SC Bank Korea savings accounts if they meet certain conditions. The customers would need to open a Dream-Youth Deposit checking account as well as a First Household Installment Deposit s

Woori Financial Group said Sunday it has established “ESG financing principles,” a framework for the incorporation of environmental, social and corporate governance factors into the group‘s business portfolios.  The ESG finance principles introduce a definition and initial purpose of ESG finance, while stipulating how to integrate ESG values when making business decisions regarding various business models, including credit loans, project financing and wealth management,

South Korea’s top financial regulator on Sunday unveiled measures to supply mid-range interest rate loans worth 32 trillion won ($28.7 billion) to 2 million borrowers with weak credit ratings by the end of this year. The policymaking Financial Services Commission plans to advise both conventional and internet-only banks to extend more mid-rate loans to borrowers with low to moderate credit scores like young people and small business owners, who find it difficult to access cheap bank loa

South Korean educational technology startup Databank said Sunday it has completed a $2.7 million series A funding round and plans to use the proceeds to expand its artificial intelligence-powered services and widen its client base. Joining the latest round were domestic early-stage venture capital houses Company K Partners, Intervest and KB Investment. The fundraising brought the startup’s post-series value to $11.5 million, up sevenfold from the previous round of funding, according to th

Standard Chartered Bank Korea will extend a special promotion aimed at helping young customers build a better savings habit for an extra month until end-May, the lender said Sunday. The promotion, which was initially planned to run from March to April, offers 10,000 won ($8.95) to those aged 18 or under who open SC Bank Korea savings accounts if they meet certain conditions. The customers would need to open a checking account, named Dream-Youth Deposit, and a savings account, called First Hou

The top executives of Shinhan Financial Group and Shinhan Bank received light sanctions Thursday over the sale of problematic funds structured by hedge fund firm Lime Asset Management.  A sanctions committee under the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service handed down an admonition to Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung and a cautionary warning to Shinhan Bank CEO Jin Ok-dong for their lax oversight of the Lime fund misselling.  The decision was made late Thursda

The world‘s largest asset management firm BlackRock has sold a 1.18 percent stake in South Korea’s home appliance rental service firm Coway for 50 billion won ($44.7 million), a filing showed Thursday. Following the transactions, the combined equity holding of BlackRock Fund Advisors and 13 affiliated entities in Coway has been reduced to 3.83 percent, and is no longer subject to filing obligations as a blockholder of the company, which specializes in door-to-door rental services o

Seoul-based Shinhan Asset Management said Thursday it plans to implement an equity investing framework associated with the environmental, social and governance factors for its domestic large-cap equity funds. Starting in May, 16 publicly pooled domestic equity funds managed by the fifth-largest asset management firm in South Korea must have at least 70 percent exposure to stocks that received the integrated ESG ratings of “BB” or above. The same strategy has so far been exercised

Founders and leaders of 17 rising startups in South Korea were picked as young innovator by the Forbes in a survey that listed 300 successful entrepreneurs under age 30, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Wednesday. The list of startups includes SelectStar, Codeit, Carpenstreet, Sleek, TableManager, Devotionfoods, Happy Moonday, Glorang, The Carbon Studio, ReDwit, Classum, Juni Essentials, Neubility and Sentbe. SelectStar, which provide AI-backed data collection and annotation service, was

South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group on Tuesday launched a mobile payment solution, as traditional banking groups seek to bolster their digital capabilities in competition against rising fintech firms. The payment solution, Shinhan Pay, provides Shinhan Card subscribers with easy-to-use payment services and money transfers at several offline stores. For Shinhan Bank users, Shinhan Pay allows them to easily subscribe and activate mobile debit cards linked to their bank accounts. Shin

Shinhan Bank said Tuesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kakao Mobility to financially support the taxi-hailing company’s employees and cooperate on developing new business models.  Under the deal, Shinhan Bank will provide loan programs offering favorable interest rates to taxi drivers and employess of nine taxi compnies operated by TJ Partners. The company is a subsidiary of Kakao Mobility, an affiliate of the country’s dominant mobile messenger operator,

South Korea’s asset management companies are beefing up their drive to take environmental, social and governance factors into account, by endorsing an international climate initiative and by creating an internal body to monitor the green investing process. On Tuesday, three Seoul-based asset management firms -- KB Asset Management, Samsung Asset Management and its subsidiary Samsung Active Asset Management -- announced that they have joined a cohort of some 2,000 organizations from 7