SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Trademark usage fees received by holding companies of South Korea’s largest conglomerates exceeded 1 trillion won (US$884.5 million) for the first time ever in 2017, a report submitted to parliament by the country’s anti-trust watchdog showed Sunday. The findings submitted to Rep. Lee Tae-kyu’s office by the Fair Trade [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — A parliamentary committee on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at allowing nonfinancial firms to have up to a 34 percent stake in Internet-only banks, easing the current 4 percent ownership limit for financial industry reform. The National Policy Committee agreed that family-owned conglomerates, known as chaebol, will not be [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s large retailers affiliated with family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebol, account for more than 60 percent of violations of a related law over the past five years, a report showed Wednesday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC), South Korea’s antitrust watchdog, detected 48 breaches of the act on fair transactions [...]
SEOUL, Jun. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Going forward, the transport of goods by a third party on behalf of South Korean conglomerate (chaebol) heads will be banned completely. A new system will enable customs officials to monitor passageways for airport employees which, some say, acted as channels for smuggling. This is according to recommendations by [...]
SEJONG, Apr. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s corporate watchdog said Tuesday that the revised enforcement ordinance of anti-trust laws will restrict deals that favor companies owned by the founding family members of large businesses. The change that will come into force soon aims to prevent arrangements that give unfair advantages to certain firms and [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Outside directors at South Korea’s major conglomerates play an insignificant role in corporate decisions, with their agenda disapproval rate remaining very low, a government report showed Wednesday. Of the 4,361 motions forwarded for approval by the board of 169 listed companies in the one-year period from April 2016, only [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The head of South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said he expects the country’s large businesses groups to voluntarily reform their cobweb-like family-run governance structures to meet market expectations and promote fair competition. “I once again reaffirm that I will never be pushy and coercive in carrying out reform on conglomerates,” [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee’s position as the largest stakeholder of Samsung Life Insurance is in jeopardy after speculation over the existence of a secret offshore account was corroborated in a National Policy Committee meeting held on November 27. Politician Park Chan-dae said, “Chairman Lee’s eligibility as the largest stakeholder [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly two-thirds of South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates have been dissolved or dropped out of the standings since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, a market tracker said Wednesday. According to corporate tracker CEO Score, 19 family-controlled conglomerates, called chaebol here, disappeared altogether from the list with the remainder maintaining [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Scores of children of the owners of nine conglomerates in South Korea have more than 100 billion won (US$88.2 million) worth of stocks in related companies, government data showed Thursday, amid the owners preferring the early transfer of assets to their offspring to reduce inheritance tax down the road. The amount [...]