Kakao co-CEO nominee resigns after stock option exercise

Alex Young-joon Ryu, a nominee for new co-CEO of South Korea's top mobile messenger app Kakao Corp., on Monday offered to step down, after his dispo...

Korean won touches 18-month low as Fed may raise rates sooner

South Korea’s won currency hit a 1-1/2-year low as the US Federal Reserve signaled the central bank may raise interest rates sooner than expec...

Export-Import Bank of Korea eyes $3 bn global bond sale

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) is planning to sell up to $3 billion worth of new global bonds this week, tipped to be the largest-ever bond...

Hana Alternative to sell NASA HQ acquired in 2017

Hana Alternative Assets Management Co. is looking for a buyer of Two Independence Square in Washington D.C., the NASA headquarters. Hana has selecte...

Pipeline software solutions provider Cloa wins $5.1 mn in additional funding

NAVER Corp.’s startup accelerator D2SF (D2 Startup Factory) has made an additional investment into data pipeline solutions provider Cloa, the ...

KFCC to increase alternative assets to 40% in three years

MG Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC) will gradually increase its alternative investment proportion from the current early 30...

Retirement packages unexpectedly benefit young talent

Voluntary retirement packages, often coming with generous compensation, have been adopted by companies as a way to let go of older or redundant empl...

Naver Webtoon to acquire Korea’s virtual human maker

Naver Webtoon Ltd., the digital comics platform of South Korea’s online portal giant Naver Corp., is set to acquire the management rights of d...

Money moves back to safe assets in Korea amid rising interest rates

With stock and cryptocurrency fevers subsiding amid a monetary tightening bias, South Koreans are moving their money back to safe assets, as banks s...

Korean core companies’ stocks underperform global peers

The world sought new opportunities in 2021, recovering from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global major companies have been in cutthroat compet...

Dunamu, Naver Z invest $8.5 mn in metaverse firm Persona Space

Persona Space, a subsidiary of South Korean metaverse company Galaxy Corp., said on Dec. 16 it has attracted 10 billion won ($8.5 million) investm...

Mortgage loan growth slows to near four-year low in November

Mortgage loan growth at banks in South Korea slowed to near a four-year low in November, on the back of tightened lending rules and an interest rate...

BNK and KTB jointly buy UBS tower in New Jersey for $219 mn

South Korea’s BNK Asset Management Co. acquired UBS Financial Services tower in New Jersey for $219 million from US real estate developer Hart...

Krafton enters metaverse space with investment in Naver’s Zepeto

Krafton Inc., one of South Korea’s major game developers, is entering the metaverse space by investing 5 billion won ($4.2 million) in Zepeto,...

Kakao extends rivalry with Naver into digital healthcare

Kakao Corp., an operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger app KakaoTalk, has set its sights on the digital healthcare market, launching an in-h...

Softbank joins $190 mn fundraising by Naver metaverse platform

Naver Corp.’s metaverse platform secured $190 million from Softbank and other investors to expand its business in a market marked by fierce co...

Bank of Korea raises interest rates, signals further hikes

South Korea’s central bank increased its policy interest rate for the second time in three months and signaled further hikes to stem rising in...

Dunamu evolves from outlier to qualified investor in Woori

"It caused quite a commotion in our industry." This was the common response by cryptocurrency exchange insiders to the news that Dunamu Inc., an ope...

Doosan sells E&C, closer to exiting self-rescue program

South Korea's Doosan Group on Friday inked an agreement to sell a majority stake in Doosan Engineering & Construction Co. (Doosan E&C) to a ...

Glenwood to join GS' acquisition of S&I E&C

South Korea’s construction conglomerate GS Engineering & Construction Co. said on November 17 that it has selected Korean private equity...

Millennial tapped to head online giant Naver

Naver Corp. has chosen Choi Soo-yeon, 40, to lead the top online platform in South Korea, in the 22-year-old company's most dramatic top management ...

AIIB commits $60 mn to STIC Asia Infra Innovation Fund

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has committed $60 million to the STIC Asia Infrastructure Innovation Fund managed by South Korea&r...

[ASK 2021] European NPL market growth creates investment opportunities  

Global asset managers will see great opportunities in the European non-performing loan market amid challenges facing the EU banking industry, such...

Kakao becomes Korea’s top platform firm, besting archrival Naver

Kakao Corp., best known for South Korea’s top mobile messenger app KakaoTalk, has become the country’s top platform company in terms of ...

Kakao Pay slips on profit-taking after strong KOSPI debut

Kakao Pay Corp. ’s stock tumbled after a strong debut on the South Korean main stock market as investors booked profits, keeping an eye on if ...

[ASK2021] European Banking Sector Dislocation: The Non-Performing Credit Opportunity

Arrow Global is a leading European investor and alternative asset manager focused on the European distressed space, backed by sophist...

AI human developer MINDs Lab aims for November IPO

South Korea’s top artificial intelligence (AI) developer MINDs Lab Inc. is aiming to list on the Kosdaq market within this month. While the ...

Korea mulls allowing banks to adopt Toss' super-app strategy

South Korea's top financial regulator is considering allowing banks to provide basically all financial services in single apps, emulating fintech pl...

Naver, Mirae Asset ramp up investment in India’s promising startups

South Korea’s top online platform operator Naver Corp. and brokerage giant Mirae Asset Securities Co. are aggressively investing in promi...

Citibank Korea to shut down retail business in phases

Citibank Korea has decided to close its consumer banking operations in phases, the bank said on Monday, after its attempt to find a buyer of the bus...