Despite the containment of the coronavirus pandemic nationwide, South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, is still sitting on an economic powder keg, high-ranking officials of credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings said Thursday. While Korea and other Asia-Pacific economies are seeing a relatively swift recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to timely policies and boosted trade, they appear to be far off from pre-COVID levels, Shaun Roache, chief Asia-Pacific economist at S&am

Economy Oct. 15, 2020

Troubled hedge fund mis-selling scandal that led to losses for South Korean investors and the fund managers’ alleged collusion with ruling party lawmakers and former Cheong Wa Dae officials were at the center stage during the parliamentary audit on the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday. FSS Gov. Yoon Suk-heun pledged to take stern actions against those responsible for the mis-selling, as the financial watchdog‘s investigation into managers such as Lime Asset Management and O

Market Oct. 13, 2020

Shinhan Financial Group said Monday that minority shareholder BNP Paribas has bought a stake worth an undisclosed amount in the South Korean banking group by securing the minimum threshold to keep the strategic partnership intact after a scheduled equity increase. According to Shinhan, BNP Paribas is set to defend the partnership even after the 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) equity increase by inviting new shareholders -- Affinity Equity Partners and Baring Private Equity Asia -- on Oct. 20.

Market Oct. 12, 2020

KB Financial Group and the Korea Growth Investment Corp. said Sunday that they would select two external partners to establish funds worth at least 30 billion won ($26 million) as part of their five-year social impact investing initiative. KB Financial Group will commit 15 billion won to the two external partners combined, and K-Growth will provide 5 billion won. The selected partners will pool at least 10 billion won to create the funds by the first half of 2021, according to K-Growth’s

Market Oct. 11, 2020

Tencent-backed online movie ticket booking platform Maoyan Entertainment has unloaded its stake in YG Entertainment worth a combined 22.1 billion won ($19.2 million) since August, disclosures showed Sunday. The selloff reduced the Chinese company’s control over South Korea‘s major entertainment powerhouse -- home to K-pop groups Big Bang, Blackpink and the newly-debuted Treasure -- to 5.78 percent, from the previous 8.09 percent. In September alone, Maoyan divested a combine

Market Oct. 11, 2020

International Finance Corp., a global development institution, said on Wednesday it hosted a virtual workshop targeting Korean infrastructure developers and investors to allow them to identify new opportunities post-COVID-19. IFC officials discussed the upsides and challenges of public-private partnership projects in Southeast and Central Asia and highlighted the role of IFC to turn the PPP projects into more bankable ones, according to IFC. Speakers also focused on environmental and social ri

Market Oct. 8, 2020

South Korea’s stock market saw a combined 498 trillion won ($428 billion) worth of short selling transactions from 2015 to 2019, but a high bar exists for retail investors wishing to engage in the practice, a lawmaker said Monday. Ruling Democratic Party Rep. Lee Jung-mun said retail investors need greater access to short selling, and called for the introduction of legislation before the temporary ban on the short selling of listed shares here expires in March 2021. The annual volume o

Market Oct. 5, 2020

After recent success in the market for Seoul office space, London-based investment firm Actis is looking to further invest in Seoul area real estate, this time with a focus on industrial assets. The company is among those looking to invest in data centers in South Korea, as demand spikes. As server requirements expand beyond what companies can accommodate in their main offices, firms are looking to relocate their servers to the cloud or a third-party facility. Both options require data cente

Market Oct. 4, 2020

Policy lender Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-gull said Monday that he is closely reviewing SsangYong Motor‘s fate as a sustainable automaker while refraining from mentioning its plan to provide financial assistance to the cash-strapped company. The focal point of SsangYong Motor must be “sustainability of business operations,” along with the shareholder‘s responsible actions and burden-sharing of all parties concerned, such as shareholders, the company and the

Market Sept. 28, 2020

A ban on short selling shares on Korean bourses for most investors curtailed the practice by nearly 97 percent, data showed Monday. Institutional investors in South Korean stock market short sold 20.4 billion won ($17.4 million) worth of stocks a day on average from March 16 to end-August, according to data obtained by Democratic Party Rep. Park Kwang-on from the watchdog Financial Supervisory Service. That was down from 654.2 billion won a day from January to March 13.　 Certain authorized i

Market Sept. 28, 2020

Korea Investment & Securities, a Seoul-based brokerage house, said Sunday that it has started selling a new product to indirectly invest in equities of global companies dedicated to infrastructure projects in developed countries. The new product is a feeder fund of the Global Listed Infrastructure Fund by Sydney-based First Sentier Investors. Local investment firm Kiwoom Asset Management is an underlying manager of the structured investment product. The product for South Korean end-inves

Market Sept. 27, 2020

The Export and Import Bank of Korea and International Finance Corp. have agreed to expand their collaboration in developing countries and to link Korean firms with more opportunities overseas, the financial institutions said Sunday. The two signed a new memorandum of understanding on Friday to focus on creating new jobs, promoting smart cities and boosting health care, among other measures to identify and finance projects in countries largely in Southeast and Central Asia. The collaboration wi

Market Sept. 27, 2020

Korean children have received a combined 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) worth of assets through some 9,700 gifts that are subject to taxation, data showed Wednesday. The value of the combined assets as of 2018 -- comprising of financial assets, properties and securities -- surged over twofold from that of 2014 at 588.4 billion won, according to data from the National Tax Service compiled by ruling Democratic Party Rep. Yang Hyang-ja. In the same period, the number of taxable gifts rose 92 per

Economy Sept. 23, 2020

The National Pension Service, South Korea‘s public pension fund, has entered into a strategic cooperation with Singapore-based Keppel Capital to beef up private infrastructure investment in Asia. According to the investment arm of offshore rig builder and shipbuilder Keppel, the strategic cooperation is meant to foster capabilities to manage energy and environmental infrastructure assets, including renewables and related technology solutions, urban development and connectivity solutions.

Market Sept. 22, 2020

Shares of Hanwha Solutions plunged Monday immediately after electric vehicle developer Nikola announced a leadership shakeup, as it faces a heap of fraud allegations and an upcoming probe. Hanwha Solutions common shares retreated 7.4 percent Monday, while its preferred stocks dipped 10 percent. Hanwha Solutions, a Seoul-based petrochemical arm of the Hanwha conglomerate, indirectly controls a minority stake in Nikola. Nikola fetched a combined $100 million of funding evenly from Hanwha Ene

Market Sept. 21, 2020