H2O Hospitality, a Korean startup dedicated to vacation rental management in Japan, said Tuesday it has raised $7 million funding from five investors to meet its fast-growing working capital needs on the back of strong growth. Joining the latest round were Samsung Venture Investment, Stonebridge Ventures, IMM Investment, Shinhan Capital and Wonik Investment Partners. The round brought H2O’s total funding to $18 million. The valuation of the firm has jumped threefold since the previous

South Korea’s Woori Financial Group is likely to have a tough week ahead, as the financial watchdog’s recent decision to impose sanctions on its chairman threatens its governance. Woori Financial’s regular board meeting is scheduled Friday, and an intense round of discussions is expected to take place over the fate of Woori Financial Group Chairman and Woori Bank CEO Sohn Tae-seung. The Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday slapped Sohn and Hana Financial Vice Chairman

Shinhan Financial Group’s plans to merge Orange Life Insurance with its wholly owned life insurance unit seemed to have been working out smoothly. However, trouble persists as minority shareholders continue to demand an increase in their dividend payouts. Small shareholders of Orange began making the demand after teaming up with civic activist group the Korea Stockholders Alliance in November, but Shinhan refuses, saying it would constitute a breach of trust with its other shareholders.

Big Hit Entertainment, the agency behind K-pop sensation BTS, is seeking an underwriter in the initial step to go public, according to news reports Friday. Big Hit has sent a request for proposal to multiple securities brokerage firms to underwrite its initial public offering, an investment banking source was quoted as saying by local news outlet the Bell. The news report did not clarify which stock market in Korea that Big Hit would choose to be listed. An underwriter is responsible for offer

Financial giant Woori Financial Group said Friday that it has delayed the process to select CEO candidates for its banking unit Woori Bank. The announcement came after the nation’s financial watchdog Financial Supervisory Service decided the day before to impose sanctions on top executives of Woori Financial Group and Hana Financial Group. “The company has decided to readjust the schedule for shortlisting CEO candidates due to recent changes,” the financial conglomerate sai

The daily foreign exchange turnover by local and foreign banks in South Korea climbed to an all-time high in 2019 on a sharp increase in the transaction of derivatives, central bank data showed Friday. The daily FX turnover came to an average $55.77 billion in the year, up $260 million, or 0.5 percent, from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. The amount marks the highest since 2008, when the central bank began including transactions of FX derivatives in such data. &

From face masks to thermometers, banks take precautions for local customers, mull contingency plans for overseas operations

The head of the Industrial Bank of Korea officially took office Wednesday after nearly a month of being unable to enter his office in the face of fierce protests from the labor union, which objected to the government’s influence on financial organizations. After reaching an agreement with the labor union to improve management transparency, IBK CEO Yoon Jong-won had his inauguration ceremony Wednesday, vowing to turn the state bank into a world-class financial institution that upholds et

Korea’s state-backed fund seeking a commitment of 1.5 trillion won ($1.27 billion) is looking to raise 900 billion won in private money, its lead fund manager Samsung Asset Management said Tuesday. The fund has a maturity of 30 years and is set to close all transactions by October 2024. The fund is designed to target overseas infrastructure assets, ranging from new and renewable energy plants, oil and gas plants, airports and roads to railways and smart city infrastructure. Managing th

AlpenRoute Asset Management said Tuesday it may opt to suspend investor withdrawal of assets worth 181.7 billion won ($154.4 million) from its 26 open-ended funds by February to ward off illiquidity, as the distrust of hedge fund managers across South Korea has triggered abrupt money withdrawal attempts. Of its 226.4 billion won assets in open-ended funds -- designed to allow investors to withdraw at will -- that mainly target equities in privately held companies, AlpenRoute has decided to defe

A cap on Samsung Electronics’s weight in a Korean equity index could kick in earlier than planned, triggering fears that billions of dollars will exit the stock.Instead of the bi-annual adjustment, the Korea Exchange is considering putting a 30 percent limit on Samsung’s weighting on the Kospi 200 Index earlier due to the stock’s recent rally, said Ahn Kil-Hyun, the manager of the team that oversees the index. Given the gauge’s popularity among passive funds, research pro

Protests outside the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea are expected to intensify, with the union’s fight against the top-down appointment of CEO Yoon Jong-won gaining support from powerful national labor associations in recent weeks. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions, one of the two largest umbrella labor organizations here, announced Wednesday that it was joining the IBK unionists in protesting what they see as excessive government meddling in the organization’s personnel affai

A luxury mansion owned by the chairwoman of retail giant Shinsegae Group remained the most expensive house in South Korea this year, data showed Wednesday. According to the Land Ministry, the declared value of Shinsegae chief Lee Myeong-hee’s 2,861-square-meter house in Hannam-dong, Seoul, was 27.7 billion won ($23.82 million) this year, taking the top spot on the list of 220,000 detached houses selectively chosen for the survey across the country.The declared value of Lee’s house ro

Chairman to retain leadership despite conviction on some of the accusations against him

Foreign currency deposits held by banks in South Korea rose sharply from a month earlier in December, central bank data showed Tuesday, apparently on the weakening of the US greenback that prompted both individuals and firms to boost their dollar holdings.The outstanding foreign currency deposits here came to $79.44 billion as of end-December, up $4.57 billion from a month before, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.The increase marks a turnaround from a $3.67 billion drop in November.F