South Korea’s financial regulators are planning to launch a joint investigation into banks, securities companies and asset managers within this month as investors who purchased derivatives-linked fund (DLF) products based on the interest rates of major countries are highly likely to lose up to 95 pe

South Korea's leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinone has released an application that can simplify the authentication procedure needed for cryptocurrency transactions.Coinone announced on Aug. 19 that it has launched the “Coinone Pass” app which allows users to simply authenticate themselves to

South Korean debit and credit card firms are on alert as major fintech companies are entering the financial platform service market to challenge existing big players, such as Kakao Corp. and Naver Corp. Card firms are spending a huge amount of money to attract new customers, but an increasing number

Korea Development Bank (KDB) said on Aug. 19 that South Korea’s appropriate benchmark rate for the second quarter of this year is 0.9 percent and the Bank of Korea is expected to lower the rate twice before the end of next year.KDB explained that it estimated the appropriate benchmark rate based on

Shinhan Bank has become the largest foreign bank operating in Vietnam by setting up 36 branches across the country.Shinhan Bank announced on Aug. 16 that its subsidiary in Vietnam has opened four additional branches in Vietnam, one each in Da Nang, Hanoi, Haiphong and Binh Duong Province.With six ad

South Korean blockchain startups are listing their cryptocurrencies on overseas exchanges one after another. Foreign exchanges have opened the Korean won money market to attract South Korean cryptocurrency projects.The number of South Korean companies listing their early-stage blockchain projects on

South Korean investors are turning to offshore asset investment. The size of overseas investment funds fell short of 80 trillion won (US$66.06 billion) at the end of 2016 but has more than doubled in just two years to 170 trillion won (US$140.38 billion). An increasing number of investors is flockin

A storm is brewing in the Korean financial industry as investors in derivatives-linked fund (DLF) products are set to suffer huge losses amounting to hundreds of billions of won. The problem stems from the DLFs based on the interest rate of Germany’s 10-year government bonds.Investors who purchased

South Korean investors have been continuously upping their investment in Vietnamese equity funds on expectations for benefits from a trade dispute between the United States and China and the Southeast Asian country’s stable economic growth.The rate of return of 20 Vietnamese equity funds with more t

South Korea's weight in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Market (EM) Index is expected to drop by 0.3 percentage point in a rebalancing scheduled for the end of this month. The amount of stock sales from passive funds due to the adjustment is estimated at 2 trillion won (

Mirae Asset Financial Group is seeking to purchase a group of 15 luxury hotels located in major cities in the United States, such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago. It is a mega deal estimated at more than US$5.5 billion (6.73 trillion won).The Bloomberg reported on Aug. 13 that Mirae Asset Fin

Foreign investors remained net buyers of South Korean stocks for a second month in July while withdrawing funds from the bond market for the first time in five months.Offshore investors bought a net 2.05 trillion won (US$1.68 billion) worth of local shares last month, the second consecutive month of

South Korea’s financial regulator is to conduct an emergency inspection into commercial banks’ sales of private equity investment products to their VIP clients and corporate clients. The inspection was prompted by heavy losses suffered by investors who purchased private equity investment products th

An increasing number of corporate executives are buying treasury shares to help defend their company shares as a host of stocks hits new yearly lows amid a bearish run in the Korean market.Kumyang Co. CEO Ryu Gwang-jy announced that he bought back 76,153 company shares over the last three days, acco

The initial public offering (IPO) market is freezing due to the recent crash of the South Korean stock market. As an increasing number of companies withdraw their listing plans due to concerns over a low level of subscriptions, firms preparing for listing are expected to feel nervous for a while.Onl

The credit default swap (CDS) premiums of South Korean financial companies and government-run financial institutions have soared since Aug. 2, when the Japanese government announced that it would exclude South Korea from its trade whitelist.For example, the Export-Import Bank of Korea’s CDS premium

Although the Japanese government is putting various economic pressures on South Korea, Japanese funds invested in the South Korean bond market are at a similar level to usual. In particular, more Japanese funds flowed into the market in July after Tokyo decided to impose curbs on exports of high-tec

true balance, a fintech application developed in Korea, has associated with ICICI Lombard General Insurance to provide health insurance at an affordable premium to its Tier II and Tier III Indian customers. These group policies availed by true balance are aimed to promote affordable and accessible h

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has disclosed a plan to directly regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and bring them into the regulatory system. Currently, the FIU indirectly controls cryptocurrency exchanges through administrative guidance to banks.A

South Korea’s financial regulator has vowed to intervene in the stock market if volatility continues to increase.During a meeting with investment banking industry insiders at the government complex in Seoul on Aug. 5, Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Sohn Byung-doo said, “We will act swif