South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Monday said that the government’s efforts for the past four years have fallen short of cooling down the heated real estate market. His remarks come after the government rolled out more than 20 sets of real estate regulations to rein in the overheated property market for the past years.　 “Real estate is one of the issues that I wish I had solved in the past four years,” said President Moon, in a media interview to mark his fourth year in

Market May 10, 2021

Dunamu, an operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, said Thursday that it will spend 10 billion won ($8.9 million) to set up a unit to protect crypto coin investors. The planned launch of the in-house unit, tentatively named Upbit protection center for digital asset investors, is part of the company’s efforts to join the environment, social and governance trend, which has been gaining traction worldwide recently. In addition to the establishment of the investor protection center this ye

Market May 6, 2021

Cryptocurrencies have been rallying again with some digital coins, like Dogecoin and Ethereum, hitting record highs recently. The prices of coins tumbled last month as governments around the world hinted that they would strengthen regulations on cryptocurrencies, which have no intrinsic value. Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, spiked to an all-time high of 4,527,000 won ($4,038) on Tuesday, up 7.12 percent, according to local crypto exchange Upbit The European Inv

Market May 4, 2021

South Korea’s main bourse Kospi could reach 4,035 points if the local market is bumped up into the MSCI World Index, which represents large and mid-cap equity performance across 24 developed nations, a local think tank said Tuesday. The Korea Economic Research Institute predicted that the inclusion, one step up from its current listing as an emerging market, would help the stock market see an inflow of foreign investments, amounting to up to 61.1 trillion won ($54.5 billion). The inclu

Market May 4, 2021

This is the first installment of a series of interviews with South Korea’s leading investors and strategists, and analyses of their insights on markets and future investment. -- Ed. Mirae Asset Financial Group Chairman Park Hyun-joo and his empire, one of South Korea’s largest asset management firms, were on a roller coaster ride last year as the group backed out of large acquisition deals and fought a series of lawsuits. Just six months before the pandemic hit the global market,

Market May 2, 2021

South Korean credit card issuer BC Card said Thursday that it has acquired a 100 percent stake of Vietnamese point of sale terminal firm Wirecard Vietnam in a bid to increase its foothold in the Southeast Asian market. The newly acquired company, the largest POS system supplier in Vietnam, offers payment terminals to 40 banks and payment services firms operating locally. As the company has software development units under its wing, it can offer tailored payment systems to its customers, whi

Market April 29, 2021

Local credit card issuer Shinhan Card will seek to create a new office culture by removing titles of executives and employees and having them all call each other by their names. Under the new office rule, Shinhan employees, for example, will call the company CEO Lim Young-jin as “Young-jin-nim,” not “daepyo-nim,” the typical honorific for a CEO. The scheme is part of the card company’s efforts to adapt to the fast-changing business environment, and to build an

Market April 27, 2021

Most cryptocurrencies have fallen significantly and a few, including Bitcoin and Dogecoin, have nose-dived more than 10 percent amid rising concerns over a potential bubble burst. Bitcoin, the world’s latest cryptocurrency, saw its price drop 12.08 percent Thursday, continuing a downward trend that started after it hit a high of 81,994,000 won ($73,243) on April 14, according to local crypto exchange Upbit. Dogecoin, which benefited from the enthusiasm of electric carmaker Tesla CEO El

Market April 23, 2021

South Koreans used fintech company apps nearly nine times more than those operated by traditional banks every month last year, a report showed on Thursday, suggesting rapid growth of the digital finance market driven by its young and tech-savvy population. According to global mobile app analytics firm App Annie, mobile users of the nation’s top five fintech apps, such as payment solution Kakao Pay, Toss, and Kakao Bank, used the apps 225 times a month on average last year, tantamount to

Market April 22, 2021

Six out of 10 new crypto investors in the first three months of the year were in their 20s and 30s, a report showed Wednesday, raising concerns that the surging market volatility could pose risks for young amateur investors. The number of newly opened accounts on the nation’s top four crypto trading platforms -- Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- came in at 2.5 million between January and March, according to the report released by Rep. Kwon Eun-hee of the opposition People Power Part

Market April 21, 2021

Multiple-home owners in one of Seoul’s most expensive districts have been scrambling to give away their apartments to family members or relatives as gifts before toughened tax rules come into force in June, according to data released by the state-run Korea Appraisal Board on Tuesday. The number of apartment transfers among family members in Gangnam-gu, a southern Seoul district, hit a monthly record high of 812 in March, 6.3 times higher than 129 marked in the previous month, the data

Market April 20, 2021

Game developer Gamevil said Monday that it has acquired a 13 percent stake in local cryptocurrency exchange Coinone. It spent some 31.19 billion won ($27.9 million) to acquire the 8,474 shares of the crypto exchange. “The acquisition is aimed at finding new business opportunities in the crypto and blockchain sectors,” said the company in a regulatory filing. With the investment, Gamevil will work together with Coinone to develop solutions that prevent hacking attempts and handle a

Market April 19, 2021

The South Korean government said Monday that it will tighten up regulations to trace illegal cryptocurrency transactions and cases of fraud amid growing concerns over a speculative bubble in the virtual coin market. The announcement was made after a meeting among top government officials and economy-related ministers on Friday to discuss issues related to the highly volatile cryptocurrency market and alleged crypto crimes. As part of the government’s efforts, the state watchdog Financ

Market April 19, 2021

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

Market April 18, 2021

South Korean asset management firm Mirae Asset Global Investments has launched two exchange-traded funds tracking the value of Bitcoin futures via its Canadian subsidiary Horizons ETFs. Along with the Bitcoin-based ETFs it also rolled out a fund investing in stocks in the battery, bitotechnology, internet, and gaming industries, often collectively referred to as the BBIG sectors. Of the newly launched cryptocurrency ETFs is an inverse product, called BetaPro Inverse Bitcoin ETF, which profi

Market April 16, 2021