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
With the unprecedented boom in the U.S. stock market since the beginning of this year, domestic individual investors have poured 4 trillion won (US$3 billion) into direct stock investments abroad, surpassing four times the amount invested during the same period last year. Securities firms are also r
Recently, there has been a trend where shareholder demands for increased shareholder returns have slightly subsided as proposals such as the retirement of repurchased stocks or dividend expansions were rejected at shareholder meetings. While companies have temporarily relieved the pressure by proact
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
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at sw.kang@nhqv.com -- Ed.The Fed's rate cut playbook emphasizes cuts sooner rather than later and further tightening. With this in mind, we anticipate bullish steepening of yield curves starting from 2Q24. The US and EU are
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
Crypto.com, trusted by more than 80 million customers worldwide and the industry leader in regulatory compliance, security and privacy, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Altava Group, a vertical AI fashion tech company delivering innovative virtual experiences and products for majo
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
SK D&D, the real estate development arm of SK Group, announced on March 4 that it held a board meeting and completed its spin-off into two entities: SK D&D and SK eternix.As a result of the spin-off, SK D&D will focus on real estate operations, while SK eternix will specialize in renewable energySK
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
The author is an analyst for NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com -- Ed.From now forward, we believe that the key to determining the value of financial sector plays is to be the existence of specific shareholder return policies and the market's level of trust in them.Boos
Incheon Metropolitan City announced on Feb. 27 that European global investment firms had delivered letters of intent to Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, expressing their intention to invest a total of US$6 billion in the city.On Feb. 26, Mayor Yoo received letters of intent for investments in Paris, France, fro
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
“Like the company has persisted in developing HBM, confident in its value, I too will continue to devote efforts to developing next-generation AI memory technology to lead the rapidly changing AI era,” said Son Ho-young, vice president of SK Hynix, on Feb. 27, expressing his thoughts and ambitions a
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