Regulatory moves delay Kakao Group’s IPO plans

Toughening regulations on big tech firms in South Korea are impacting the IPO timeline of Kakao Pay Corp. and Kakao Mobility Corp. According to the ...

Tech crackdown bites Korea Inc.

Investors are selling technology stocks in a major Asian economy on regulatory worries just as one of the country’s biggest online payment com...

KDB chairman urges FTC to approve merger of Korean Air, Asiana

A speedy approval by South Korea’s top antitrust regulator of the proposed merger of Korean Air Lines Co. (KAL) and its local rival Asiana Air...

Kakao drops 10.1%, Naver falls 7.9% on potential big tech crackdown

South Korea may be following China’s lead in cracking down on big tech firms. The country’s two leading tech giants Naver Corp. and Kaka...

Overseas crypto exchanges end Korean services ahead of rule tightening

Overseas cryptocurrency exchanges are ending their Korean services, including language support as well as trading and payments in Korean won, as Sou...

Korean unicorns winning talent war against global IBs

South Korean unicorn startups are soaking up talent from global investment banks (IBs) and brokerage houses. Junior and senior financial market spec...

Google’s in-app billing system ignites power play among Korean regulators

South Korea’s attempt to prohibit global app store operators from forcing certain in-app payment schemes has hit a bumpy road due to power pla...

IONIQ 5 becomes 4th-most sold EV in Norway in July

Hyundai Motor Co.’s first all-electric car IONIQ 5 is making a strong debut this year in Norway, the principal battlefield in Europe for globa...

Krafton IPO draws lukewarm demand from retail investors

Korea’s major game developer Krafton Inc’s much-anticipated IPO subscription has closed by only drawing a muted response from investors....

Korean startups raise record-high Series A funding in H1

South Korea's startup ecosystem has been booming with companies raising over 1 trillion won ($870 million) in the first half of this year -- an all-...

Kakao Pay delays IPO following regulator request to refile prospectus

Kakao Pay Corp., the digital settlement platform unit of South Korea’s top messaging app operator Kakao Corp., is delaying its planned initial...

Korea’s cash-rich firms issue more bonds amid low interest environment

Some of the most cash-abundant firms across different industries in South Korea are issuing large amounts of bonds to raise even more funds amid a l...

Kakao Pay must refile IPO registration statement to FSS

South Korea’s financial regulator Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on July 16 requested correction of Kakao Pay’s IPO registration st...

The power of rubbish: Korean firms make big money from garbage

There is money to be made in garbage. Such is the growing consensus among investors as well as waste treatment companies amid tighter environmental ...

Korean banks enter digital asset custody market in quick succession

Woori Financial Group has become South Korea’s third major banking group to enter the digital asset custody service (DACS) market, following K...

Korean battery SMEs rush for money to expand capacity

South Korean rechargeable battery-related companies are jumping into capital markets to raise money for capacity expansion as the fast-growing ele...

A generation indebted: Young Koreans struggle under record loans in Q1

Young South Koreans are drowning in debt.Korean youths in their 20s and 30s are reeling under growing personal debt as they aggressively take out pe...

COVID-19 blues? Pandemic makes SD Biosensor Korea’s top-grossing bio firm

Multinational biopharmaceutical companies have dominated the world’s diagnostics market for years. However, the coronavirus pandemic, which st...

Krafton hiccup: Financial regulator concerned over high IPO share price

South Korean game developer Krafton Inc.'s road to an initial public offering is getting rocky with the country's financial regulator expressing con...

Short-selling ban keeps Korea from MSCI’s developed-markets index

South Korea is unlikely to obtain the global index provider MSCI’s developed-market status this year with the Korean government’s decisi...

Naver tipped to pull out of Shinsegae-led eBay Korea deal

In the latest twist to the pending deal worth nearly $4 billion, South Korea's online titan Naver Corp. has tentatively decided to withdraw from a S...

UK lifestyle brand Barbour enters legal battle with 10-year partner in Korea

The recent decision by Barbour, the British lifestyle brand under J. Barbour & Sons Ltd., to transfer the rights to sell its products in South K...

Money flowing into fast-growing sneaker resale market

South Korea-based online fashion platform Musinsa has spun off its sneaker resale platform SoldOut to create a subsidiary named SLDT, alongside secu...

Regulations drive Naver to seek growth abroad

South Korean platform giant Naver Corp. is seeking growth opportunities abroad to avoid regulatory constraints that hinder its operations at home. T...

Korea’s retail investors go West, eye golden ticket for big money

For South Korean stock investors, 2020 may go down in history as the year of The Great Quest for big money, and at the end of their journey they fou...

Korean regulator mulls flat-rate underwriting fees to cool IPO hype

South Korean financial regulators are considering introducing flat-rate underwriting fees for initial public offerings, in a move seen aimed at coolin...

Korea’s money supply sees fastest growth in decade as foreigners return to stock market

South Korea’s money supply grew at a quicker pace in June than it has in a decade, as foreign investors, who shunned risky assets just following...

Money flows into alternative funds slow; regulator to up monitoring

Capital inflows into alternative investment funds in South Korea have slowed sharply so far this year compared with a year earlier due to coronavirus,...

Korean startups raking in big investment money

Biotech startup Bionetix easily surpassed what's known as the "10 billion won hurdle" by raising an additional 10 billion won in funding on Dec. 23. I...

Korean regulator moves to scrutinize savings funds’ financial health

South Korea’s savings funds may come under direct supervision of the country’s top financial watchdog as the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is se...