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
Ssangyong E&C has received the Safety & Health Award Recognition for Projects (SHARP) for its two construction projects in Singapore, the T308 subway construction project and the Forest Woods Condominium project.The company received the awards at an award ceremony held by the Singaporean Ministry of
KB Financial Group Inc., a major South Korean banking group, has joined hands with global business accelerator Plug and Play to support early-stage business ventures in the country.Under a collaboration agreement, KB Financial Group has been nominated as one of Plug and Play‘s anchor members granted
Although the mutual evaluation unit of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has finished a due diligence on South Korean financial companies, domestic banks cannot relax until the final results come out in April next year. The on-the-spot inspection has been completed, but they now face a stricter
Samsung SDS will make a full-scale foray into the Southeast Asian IT service market by becoming the largest shareholder of CMC, a large IT service company in Vietnam.Samsung SDS announced on July 28 that it signed an investment contract with CMC on July 26 under a strategic investment agreement. CMC
Foreigners bought both listed stocks and listed bonds at the same time in June. In particular, the foreign ownership of listed bonds reached a record high for two months in a row.Foreigners’ net investment in South Korean bonds came to 5.80 trillion won (US$4.91 billion) in June, according to data f
R.J. O'Brien & Associates LLC, the oldest and largest independent futures brokerage firm in the United States, is pushing into the South Korean derivatives trading market.The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said on July 11 that it approved a preliminary investment banking license plan from R
Naver Business Platform (NBP) announced on July 11 that it has concluded an agreement with Deskera, the number one SaaS company in Southeast Asia.Deskera will provide cloud-based enterprise business software solutions to Southeast Asian customers through the global legion of the Naver Cloud Platform
Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) announced on July 10 that it has successfully issued sustainable bonds worth US$500 million.This marked the first time that KOGAS issued sustainable bonds. KOGAS became the first state-run corporations to issue 10-year environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds. ESG bon
The conflict between South Korea and Japan triggered by Japan’s restrictions on exports of key semiconductor materials shows signs of escalating into “a tariff war.”The South Korean government decided on July 10 to extend an anti-dumping duty on imports of ethyl acetate, including those from Japan,
South Korea’s top steel company POSCO has become the first global steelmaker to issue sustainable bonds.POSCO announced on July 9 that it succeeded in issuing five-year environment, social and governance (ESG) bonds worth US$500 million (591.50 billion won) to investors around the world on July 8. T
The National Pension Service (NPS) will strengthen the investment functions of its overseas offices, a high-ranking NPS official said on July 8.This means the NPS will raise the proportion of overseas investment in its total investment assets. “The NPS is planning to transfer more investment functio
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong flew to Japan on July 7 to deal with Japan’s display and semiconductor material export restrictions. The next day, he discussed the issue with a number of local entrepreneurs, expressing concerns that the restrictions may negatively affect Samsung Elect
The World Bank announced on July 7 that South Korea recorded a nominal GDP of US$1,619.4 billion last year to come in 12th out of 205 countries. South Korea took the 14th place in 2009 to 2013, 13th in 2014, 11th in 2015 and 2016, and 12th in 2017.Last year, the United States topped the list with ov
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the Pacific Alliance held its 14th summit in Lima, Peru on July 6 (local time) and agreed to discuss South Korea’s associate membership in September this year.Organized in 2012, the Pacific Alliance is a regional economic union of Mexico, Per
David Sehyeon Baek is a columnist -- Ed. In Korea, KFC is not doing too well these days. There was a time when KFC was hugely popular. Now in the list of the best 10 chicken brands, KFC is not included at all. People say the total number of chicken restaurants in Korea exceeds the total number of Mc
Hyundai Heavy Industries Group announced on June 27 that its refining unit, Hyundai Oilbank Co., will purchase 2.09 trillion won (US$1.81 billion) worth of non-Arabian crude oil from Aramco Trading Singapore Pte Ltd., an affiliate of Saudi Aramco.The latest contract accounts for 9.71 percent of the
Samsung C&T's construction unit announced on June 25 that it has won the Thi Vai LNG Terminal construction project, which was awarded by Vietnam's state-run gas firm PetroVietnam Gas Corp.The company said it has formed a consortium with the local company PetroVietnam Technical Services Corp.
Yanolja, the largest online travel platform in South Korea, has raised $180 million in Series D funding from GIC and Booking Holdings, bringing its current valuation to more than $1 billion.GIC is a sovereign wealth fund established by the Government of Singapore, while Booking Holdings is the world