Last year, insurance companies recorded a net profit exceeding 13 trillion won (US$9.68 billion), marking a record high performance in history.According to the “2023 Insurance Company Management Performance” report released by the Financial Supervisory Service on March 26, the combined net profit of
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on March 25 that it would initiate a concentrated investigation into what are colloquially referred to as “zombie companies.” These are businesses considered financially distressed, resorting to tactics such as capital increases through disguised pay
LG Chem is seeking solutions to revive its struggling petrochemical business. Splitting the petrochemical business and attracting foreign investments from the Middle East to create a joint venture are among the scenarios being discussed.Vice Chairman Shin Hak-cheol of LG Chem responded to reporters’
Samsung Engineering has changed its name to Samsung E&A.Samsung Engineering held its 57th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at its Global Engineering Center (GEC) in the Sangil neighborhood of Gangdong district in Seoul on March 21. In the meeting, the company announced that an agenda on making
Shinhan Bank announced on March 14 that Shinhan Bank Indonesia has signed a strategic business agreement with Indonesian electronic payment company Indodana (PT Artha Dana Teknologi Indodana) to expand its digital platform-based lending market.Indodana is a digital payment solutions provider that ha
Samsung Display CEO Choi Joo-sun has expressed confidence that Korea will reclaim the top spot in the global display market by 2027. Speaking to reporters before the Korean Display Industry Association’s general meeting at Lotte Hotel World on March 7, Choi emphasized the need for focus and speciali
Mirae Asset Global Investments announced on March 7 that its Canadian ETF subsidiary, “Horizons ETFs,” will change its name to “Global X Canada” starting from May.“Horizons ETFs,” acquired by Mirae Asset Global Investments in 2011, is the fourth-largest ETF operator in Canada. At the time of acquisi
Hanwha Foodtech, which is led by Hanwha Hotel & Resort Vice President Kim Dong-seon, the third son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, has acquired U.S.-based robot pizza brand “Stellar Pizza.”In January, Hanwha Foodtech signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Serve Automation, the pare
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com -- Ed.Excluding losses at YG Investment, YG Ent’s 4Q23 results met our expectations. BabyMonster’s first debut album, which is to feature the return of main member Ahyeon, is to be released on Apr 1. We e
Woori Financial Group has established a strategic partnership with Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), between their respective subsidiaries.According to sources in the financial sector on Feb. 28, Woori Venture Partners, a subsidiary of Woori Financial Group, sign
Mirae Asset Securities announced on Feb. 27 that the number of its retail customer accounts in India has exceeded 1 million.After the launch of the online trading platform “m.Stock” in April 2022, the Indian unit of Mirae Asset Securities has rapidly ascended in the rankings within the local online
Domestic game companies are putting significant effort into capturing the Middle East market. Based on “oil money,” this region possesses high financial power and purchasing capability but is still an untapped market due to inadequate communication infrastructure and other issues. Although the uncer
A Korean-owned Ireland-based semiconductor company is reportedly among companies included in a list of those under U.S. sanctions against Russia.According to the Irish Times in Dublin, Ireland-based Cubit Semiconductor was included in the sanctions announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s
The legal battle between the sons of the founder of Hanmi Pharmaceutical -- Lim Jong-yoon and Lim Jong-hoon -- and the OCI Group has intensified. OCI Group holds a significant stake in Hanmi Science, the parent company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group. The legal battle remains on the question of integr
The National Pension Service (NPS) issued an explanatory statement regarding the report by domestic media on Feb. 14, titled “NPS’ Overseas Alternative Investment Assets: Solely Trusting and Passing Verification to Asset Managers.”On the same day, the media reported that the NPS is accepting the pro
SK Earthon is securing investment funds for future growth engines by selling its stake in Peru LNG Company, LLC.On Feb. 7, the company signed a stake transfer agreement with MidOcean Energy to sell 20 percent of its stake in Peru LNG for US$256.5 million.Peru LNG is a company that owns a liquefied n
On Feb. 8, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) unveiled its agenda for the year, intending to elevate the criteria for designating business conglomerates subject to disclosure. Criticism has been directed at the regulations governing the disclosure of business groups as they are unique to South Korea. T
Korea’s current account surplus reached US$35.5 billion in 2023. This was mainly because the volume of goods exports reaching a yearly high at the end of 2023.The current account surplus stood at US$7.41 billion in December, according to a December 2023 provisional balance of payments data released
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com -- Ed.WFG’s CET1 ratio is now at 11.9%. While we positively view y-y improvement in the figure, we believe that CET1 ratio needs to be actively strengthened in order for WFG to meet market expectations for
Due to the strength of the U.S. dollar, the foreign exchange reserves decreased last month for the first time in three months.According to the statistics of the “Foreign Reserves as of the End of January 2024” publication released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Feb. 5, South Korea’s foreign reserves