The new regional head of the Hyundai Motor’s labor union, the largest single union in the country, has pledged to introduce a “4-day workweek” starting next year. This commitment has reignited the debate over reduced working hours, often described as a “hot potato” in the industry.On Dec. 6, Hyundai
South Korea’s major government-run banks and commercial banks, including the Korea Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Korea, Kookmin Bank, and Woori Bank, are planning to provide multi-million-dollar loans for Hanwha Group’s 24 trillion won (US$17.71 billion) investment in a U.S. liquefied
The Korean government will issue yen-denominated foreign exchange stabilization bonds, also known as samurai bonds, for the first time since the 1998 foreign exchange crisis in Korea. Private investors, including major Japanese banks, are being targeted. They are expected to help Korean companies to
Business leaders from Korea and Japan gathered again in Seoul for the Korea-Japan Industrial Cooperation Forum to discuss ways to boost cooperation between the two countries. Recently the two countries have accelerated their economic cooperation, including the signing of a currency swap for the firs
Paris Baguette, a bakery chain owned by South Korea's SPC Group, enjoyed excellent brand promotion effects as it participated as an official sponsor in the Mizuho Americas Open, a tournament on the U.S. Women's Professional Golf (LPGA) tour.The Mizuho Americas Open, a newly launched tourname
Samsung Electronics has recently been increasing the use of core smartphone parts from Chinese and Taiwanese companies. “Samsung Electronics will procure 3.5 million and 3 million OLED panels for Galaxy smartphones from BOE and CSOT, respectively, in 2022,” Yasuo Nakane, a researcher at Mizuho Secur
Naver announced on Dec. 16 that it would delist LINE, its subsidiary in Japan, and make an additional investment of 779.1 billion won in J.Hub, a fully-owned subsidiary in Japan.The investment is to repay borrowings. Earlier, J.Hub borrowed 2,247.9 billion won from Mizuho Bank and SMBC and Naver sto
A total of 20 global investment firms sent an official letter to Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and Samsung C&T on Oct. 21 in order to object to their coal-fired power plant construction in Vietnam.The 18 firms include the Church of Finland, Denmark’s MP Pension and Sweden’s Nordea Life & Pensio
IMC, a brokerage based in the Netherlands, is planning to establish a securities company in South Korea. Such establishment by a foreign financial company is for the first time in three years. In July 2017, China Merchants Securities and Mizuho Securities founded their arms in South Korea.IMC reques
Shinhan Financial Group and Hana Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for global business partnership on May 25. It is the first business partnership between South Korean financial holding companies. They are the largest and third-largest financial companies in South Korea, res
Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) has completed a financing contract for a photovoltaic power generation project in Guam, the United States, which will cost US$200 million.KEPCO announced on May 13 that it has minimized financial burdens for the Guam Solar Project by securing funding through projec
Concern is growing among domestic financial industry officials as the Japanese government may target the Korean financial market following restrictions on exports of semiconductor core materials to Korea and the exclusion of Korea from its whitelist of countries eligible for preferential treatment i
With Japan’s economic retaliation measures straining relations between Japan and South Korea, the total amount of loans given out to South Korean entities by Japanese banks plunged 3 trillion won (US$2.56 billion) from 21 trillion won (US$17.93 billion) to 18 trillion won (US$15.36 billion) this yea
CJ CheilJedang Corp. is seeking to join hands with private fund management firm JKL Partners Inc. to acquire U.S. frozen food firm Schwan's Co. The two companies discussed 600 billion won (US$531.21 million) worth of joint investment last year, but the talks came to a rupture. However, they have
Meritz Securities Co. has concluded an aircraft deal worth some 600 billion won (US$533 million) in two years after it jointly received a total of 1 trillion won (US$889 million) worth of aircraft deal with Japan’s Mizuho Securities Co. at the end of 2016The South Korean brokerage firm announced on
Naver’s Japanese subsidiary LINE will push forward with the internet banking business in 2020 by partnering with the Mizuho Financial Group, a major Japanese bank.According to NHK and Kyodo News, LINE and Mizuho announced a plan in a press conference on Nov. 27 to establish a bank in 2020 and set up
The number of foreign securities companies stood at 22 as of the end of September this year, accounting for 40 percent of the total 55 brokerage players in South Korea. Compared to 2010, the local industry added one foreign broker while eight local companies left the market.According to the Financia
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on August 25 that Toshiba and Western Digital (WD) buried the hatchet to tackle Samsung Electronics in the flash memory market.On August 24, Toshiba changed the preferred bidder for the sale of Toshiba Memory Corporation to the WD consortium from that selected two m
Toshiba said that it was litigation risk that delayed a formal contract with the Korea-US-Japan Alliance, which includes SK Hynix, although the alliance was selected as the preferred bidder for the sell-off of Toshiba Memory.According to the Mainichi Shimbun Newspaper of Japan on August 21, Toshiba
According to market research firm Tractica, the annual sales of the global artificial intelligence (AI) industry is expected to show a rapid growth from US$640 million to US$36.8 billion between last year and 2025. It is algorithmic trading that is likely to lead the growth. Various customized algor