SEOUL, July 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign ownership of South Korean stocks has fallen below the 30-percent level for the first time in nearly four years as market heavyweights preferred by offshore investors underperformed small-caps this year, the nation’s bourse operator said Wednesday. The value of local stocks held by foreign investors was estimated at [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) – BC Card has decided to open the source code for mobile card issuance to all financial firms and start-ups to contribute to the growth of the FinTech industry in Korea. The company has already spent some 30 billion won to develop the source code. The biggest payment processing company and local [...]
SEOUL, June 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, pledged Tuesday to deliver more dividends to shareholders and revamp its overall governance structure, as it seeks to convince investors ahead of a key shareholders meeting for a proposed merger with the group’s construction arm. The measures came as [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s third-largest commercial bank by asset, said Monday that it has concluded a deal to acquire a controlling stake in an Indonesian bank as part of its efforts to beef up its overseas presence. Under the contract, Shinhan Bank buys 75 percent in Centratama Nasional Bank [...]
SEJONG, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea aims to increase its outbound investment by US$15 billion annually through an overhaul of tax schemes and more overseas investment by the state pension fund that can help offset some of the fallout from the country’s ballooning current account surplus, the government said Monday. The bold measures [...]
SEOUL, June 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Venture capitalists have poured money into tech start-ups this year as the bullish tech-heavy bourse boosted hope for lucrative returns from public offerings and low interest rates made cheap capital available, data showed Wednesday. Total investment in South Korean venture firms stood at 5.8 trillion won (US$5.24 billion) as of [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The capitalization of the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market surpassed the 200-trillion won (US$181 billion) level for the first time since its launch in 1996, driven by retail investors seeking higher returns and a bright earnings outlook, its operator said Tuesday. The KOSDAQ market index, which tracks the prices of 1,077 [...]
SEOUL, June 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean institutional investors own more than 20 percent of Samsung C&T, which could serve as the swing vote on its high-stakes fight with a U.S. hedge fund over a controversial merger plan, market sources said Tuesday. The state-run National Pension Service (NPS), the biggest institutional investor in South Korea, and [...]
SEOUL, June 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Bank lending to households and businesses in South Korea has been rising at a fast clip over the past year as interest rates remain persistently low, central bank data showed Sunday. Outstanding bank loans to household and corporate borrowers came to 1,302.4 trillion (US$1.19 trillion) as of last Monday, [...]
SEOUL, June 21 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund has abandoned its plan to buy a stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers, a Major League Baseball club, as part of a broader move to diversify its investment portfolio, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday. The Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), which manages assets entrusted [...]