Troubled hedge fund operator’s entangled ties with political circles expose misleading attempts to cover up shallow investment strategies

Financial Services Commission Eun Sung-soo will attend a closed-door meeting of the heads of South Korea’s five biggest banking groups Friday to discuss whether to further ease loan repayment schedules for coronavirus-battered companies, industry sources said Sunday. It is unusual for the FSC chief to attend the meeting convened by the five chiefs, according to insiders. Through the meeting, the authorities are slated to seek a consensus on the details of a further extension of loan re

The South Korean unit of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets hosted a virtual seminar on industrial safety awareness Thursday for companies receiving investments from its funds, it said Friday. The seminar was part of Safety Day, which the company holds annually in an effort to prevent industrial disasters and help companies understand related risks. It was carried out virtually this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the participation of officials from Macquarie Group and project

KB Financial Group said Friday that it has relocated its startup accelerator program to a WeWork branch here and plans to recruit its first tenants. The venue for the KB Starters program, dubbed the KB Innovation Hub, was relocated earlier this month to an approximately 1,000-square-meter space within WeWork Korea’s Sinnonhyeon branch in southern Seoul. Its previous venue was a 600-square-meter coworking space nearby. Cooperation with WeWork Korea will also allow program participants

Responding to growing trade and investment volume between South Korea and Africa, the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea has signed a sublease contract worth $100 million with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank via a videoconference, officials said Wednesday.  Launched in 1985, the TDB, a multilateral, treaty-based development financial institution, is aimed at financing local businesses as well as trade activities in the African regions. It has 22 member coun

The state-run Industrial Bank of Korea said Wednesday it plans to launch a new mobile untact -- non face-to-face contact -- mortgage product for customers. The product, designed to support self-employed or small business owners, will be extended through IBK’s mobile banking app I-One Bank. Users will be required to submit only basic personal information, instead of actual paper documents. The time tied to the process of receiving the mortgage will be shortened, as borrowers will b

Sales of equity-linked securities in South Korea tumbled in the first half of the year as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on major stock markets, data showed Wednesday. The value of ELS issues came to 31.6 trillion won ($26.3 billion) in the January-June period, down 39.6 percent from six months earlier, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. The figure was also down 33.8 percent from the 47.7 billion won floated during the same period a year earlier. ELS refers to hyb

South Korea's money supply grew by a record amount in May on increased loans to households and firms amid the coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,053.9 trillion won ($2.55 trillion) as of the end of May, according to preliminary data by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The amount represents an increase of 1.2 percent, or 35.4 trillion won, from April, which is the biggest on-month gain since data tracking began in December 2001. From a year earlier,

Payments made with cards here began to drop shortly after the country confirmed the new coronavirus outbreak in late January, central bank data showed Tuesday, in what could be another data backing reduced spending amid the pandemic. Between February and May, the overall amount of payments made with cards dropped 2.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). South Korea reported its first COVID-19 infection case on Jan. 20. Credit card spendi

IMM Private Equity’s plan to acquire Kolmar Korea’s contract-based pharmaceutical business assets for 512.52 billion won ($427.24 million) has been postponed indefinitely, filings showed Monday. In a renewed disclosure, the prearranged deadline for IMM’s all-cash deal to buy the assets owned by Kolmar Korea Holdings’ stake by July 31 was scrapped on Friday, without setting a fresh due date. This comes two months after Korea’s third-largest private equity fund ink

The financial watchdog said Monday it has issued a disciplinary warning to three lenders -- Shinhan, Hana and Industrial Bank of Korea -- for their slack management in project financing. Project financing refers to a long-term loans issued by savings banks and other lending institutions as well as a number of equity investors, which is aimed at supporting infrastructure projects.  The Financial Supervisory Service slapped disciplinary measures against the lenders as they reportedly subt

The prime office market in Seoul has recently showed signs of normalization, as uncertainties due to the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak have been on the wane in key business districts, data showed Sunday. Demand from the information technology industry remained healthy, allowing major prime buildings to sign leases with large tenants, according to an estimate from real estate service firm Colliers International. In Gangnam, one of the larger business districts of the city, financ

Debt-saddled Doosan’s efforts to secure cash in response to the policy lenders’ bailout appears to be coming to fruition, as the construction-to-equipment giant is finding new investors to help the conglomerate improve its balance sheet. In line with ongoing moves, Doosan is looking to embark on talks with Daewoo Development Engineering & Construction, the Korean subsidiary of Chinese real estate developer JL Global, to sell Doosan Engineering & Construction. The final de

The South Korean government vowed to speed up measures to stem the rampant practices of illegal private lending Thursday. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun visited a counseling center within the market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service that addresses consumer damages caused by illicit private lending, which normally target low-income families with high interest rates and related frauds.  He was accompanied by FSS Gov. Yoon Suk-heun, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Sohn Byun

Debt-ridden Doosan Group’s holding firm said Wednesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with local private equity firm SkyLake Investment to sell a majority stake in its battery foil maker unit. “Doosan Corp. has signed an MOU with SkyLake Investment with regards to the sale of Doosan Solus,” the construction-to-energy conglomerate said in a filing. “The company will immediately disclose the details of the stake transaction once the terms are finalized.”