As an official announcement on the biggest wealth inheritance in modern Korean history draws near, all eyes are on how much of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee’s assets would be given to his eldest son Lee Jae-yong, who has in effect already inherited the control of the mammoth business conglomerate. According to industry sources on Tuesday, the bereaved family of the late tycoon is anticipated to announce this week, before an April 30 deadline, a final inheritance plan, incl

The bereaved family of Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee will make public its plans for the late tycoon’s massive personal wealth, estimated to be worth over 30 trillion won ($26.98 billion), industry sources said Tuesday. The plan will include donations of art from the chairman’s collection and the allocation of his stocks to family members, including Lee Jae-yong, his son and successor in the Samsung empire. It will also detail how the family plans to pay the inheritance taxes.

Financial soundness, capital size, and business potential have long been the criteria of measuring the value of financial companies here, but a new method, though subjective and somewhat abstract, is changing the assessment game. Since the pandemic, financial firms have been expanding services and products conscious of environmental, social and governance values while investors keep a close eye on whether business decisions of banking firms, stock brokers, card issuers or insurance firms run

A looming legal battle between a top insurance firm and an issuer of derivative-linked securities raises concerns over the financial product -- whose underlying asset, a trade finance fund, had deferred redemption. Samsung Life Insurance, which sold over 53 billion won ($47 million) worth of DLS products through a privately pooled fund, is awaiting court proceedings against NH Investment & Securities, the brokerage firm that issued the DLS for the seller, the company said Wednesday. A Sa

South Korean stock brokerage firms were among highest-paying companies across all industries last year with an average annual salary of more than 120 million won ($106,288), data showed on Thursday. According to data compiled by recruitment firm Job Korea, employees at Korea’s top 100 listed companies were paid an average annual pay of 83.2 million won. Claiming the top spot of the list for the highest-paying workplaces here, stock trading firm Samsung Securities, paid 131 million won

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which weighed down most of the world’s economies last year, the bilateral economic relationship between South Korea and Germany gained momentum even in the midst of market turbulence. While the auto and biopharma businesses flourished last year, it is the green growth and hydrogen energy sectors that are likely to pick up speed down the road, according to the chief representative of German businesses here. “Germany and South Korea are already moving

Environmental, social and corporate governance issues are gaining momentum in the local insurance sector as insurers increasingly follow the global ESG trend. In one of the latest moves, Samsung Fire and Maritime Insurance, the insurance arm of the nation’s largest conglomerate, set up a committee charged with making business decisions regarding ESG matters on Monday. The new committee will enable the insurance firm to swiftly respond to demand for ESG, the company said. “The c

The National Pension Service said Wednesday it would engage in voting for Posco Chairman and CEO Choi Jeong-woo’s new term as a Posco board member in a way that does not affect the result of the shareholders’ vote on Friday. The decision not to vote against Choi comes as a series of workplace accidents, the company‘s involvement in a coal-fired project and alleged ties to Myanmar‘s military coup piled pressure on Choi, who served as chief of the steel-to-chemicals congl

Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea's leading life insurers, said Thursday its earnings plunged nearly 30 percent in 2020 due to increased costs. Net profit came to 382.9 billion won ($340 million) last year, down 29.9 percent from a year earlier, Kyobo Life Insurance said in a filing to the Korea Life Insurance Association. Kyobo Life Insurance said its net income fell due to a temporary rise in costs to prevent insurance planners from leaving the company amid the coronavirus impact and

South Korea’s financial authorities plan to launch an industry-wide probe into insurers selling foreign currency insurance -- which has been gaining popularity here in recent years -- next month, on allegations of possible misselling of the high-risk products, sources said Friday. When customers subscribe to foreign currency insurance in Korea, they pay an insurance premium with foreign currency, the most popular being the US dollar, and receive payments with the same currency. The natio

Forty South Korean investors were found to have invested a total of $16.8 billion in securities issued by thermal coal-related companies worldwide as of January, data exclusively obtained by The Korea Herald showed Thursday. The figure highlights calls for more aggressive climate action on the part of the investors, beyond just declaring an end to additional coal investing, for a nation that pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by cutting emissions to net zero by 2050 for a more sustainable fut

SK Bioscience, the vaccines unit of South Korea’s No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, said Tuesday it looks to raise up to some 1.49 trillion won ($1.34 billion) in fresh funds via an initial public offering on the nation’s benchmark Kospi bourse. While its market debut is scheduled for next month, the vaccine producer seeks to issue 22.95 million shares in a price band of 49,000-65,000 won. The exact share price will be determined after the book building process before retail investors ca

A professional volleyball player has abruptly retired after admitting to assault allegations from his school days, the latest black eye to the sport reeling from a snowballing bullying scandal. Park Sang-ha of the Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Bluefangs announced his retirement through his V-League club Monday evening. The decision came three days after Park's middle school classmate accused the player of beating him up in 1999 in an online post. Park, 34, admitted that he had assaulted

The market capitalization of Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, shrunk by around 42 trillion won ($38.01 billion) after its de facto head Lee Jae-yong was sent back to jail last month, the Korea Exchange’s market data showed Thursday. The combined market value of 16 listed firms within the nation’s telecom-to-chemicals conglomerate came to 695.87 trillion won at Thursday’s closing bell, losing 41.93 trillion won or 5.68 percent from the closing Jan. 15, t

Fintech company Viva Republica said Tuesday that it will work with South Korean life insurance firm Samsung Life Insurance to advance its platform for insurance planners. Viva Republica, the operator of money transfer app Toss, launched insurance affiliate Toss Insurance in 2018, rolling out non-face-to-face insurance services. The company is also running Toss Insurance Partner, a platform to support insurance planners to handle customer services and manage insurance contracts. The support pla