South Korea’s local currency fell for four consecutive trading days and breached a seven-month low against the US dollar, amid investor risk aversion and the strengthening dollar following growing fears of a US-China trade war.The dollar-to-won exchange rate came to 1,104.8 won in closing Monday, up 7.1 won compared to the previous session’s close Friday. The higher rate equals weaker won. The Korean won was the weakest in seven months since closing on Nov. 15, 2017 at 1,112.3 won ag

Market June 18, 2018

South Korea’s Woori Bank is set to apply for regulatory approval Tuesday to adopt a financial holding company structure.Following a regular board of directors’ meeting Tuesday, the bank will submit a plan for the restructuring to the Financial Services Commission, a financial regulator, according to the company. If the bank manages to earn a regulatory nod from the FSC by mid-November, the reform plan will be confirmed in the shareholders meeting at the end of this year. A new holdin

Market June 18, 2018

The increasing pace of household credit in South Korea showed little sign of abating, data showed Sunday, and the lingering debt crisis is likely to affect Korean households‘ finance amid central bank pressure for a key rate hike in tandem with the US Fed hike last week.Total credit to households as a percentage of gross domestic product came to 94.8 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2017, up 2.2 percentage points from the year prior, according to data by the Bank for International Settl

Market June 17, 2018

The prosecution has indicted 38 officials from South Korean commercial and provincial banks, including former and incumbent chiefs, on charges of exerting inappropriate influence on entry-level employment, in the latest development in the local financial sector’s hiring scandal.The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on Sunday announced it had sent the officials, including KEB Hana Bank Chief Executive Ham Young-joo and ex-CEO of Woori Bank Lee Kwang-goo, to trial. While Ham and Lee were boo

Market June 17, 2018

A financial technology startup and major credit bureau are locked in a fight, with the former claiming the Korea Credit Bureau violated intellectual property rights on the startup’s technology to allow user verification with a single finger touch on a smartphone.Korean financial technology startup Hankook NFC said it is filing complaints against Korea Credit Bureau, its former business partner to create the authentication system, for infringing its patent rights on the authentication technology

Technology June 10, 2018

Kakao Bank, South Korea’s largest internet-only bank, on Friday showcased a beta version of a customer service chatbot it expects to play a crucial role in enhancing its unmanned operation. The service will officially launch this month, the company said, without elaborating.The launch is expected to relieve the burden of existing customer services, for which 80 percent of customer inquiries were simple issues that could be addressed by the system, according to the bank. Veronica Lee, proje

Market June 8, 2018

South Korea is facing increasing pressure to reduce or recycle its own plastic waste, particularly since China’s plastic import ban that took effect in January this year.While some countries like the United Kingdom have embarked on state-led measures in a joint effort with local business sectors to ditch plastic, similar measures in Korea face criticism for their lack of binding force and sustainability.In a speech to mark Environment Day on June 5, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon echoed a need to in

Industry June 8, 2018

A tectonic shift is unraveling in and around the Korean Peninsula, especially in the wake of rapprochement mood and signs of denuclearization in North Korea, as well as trade war threats in East Asia. But to businessmen here, the looming transformation in the world‘s most secluded state could translate into a change in environment to which they would be forced to adapt. Experts and veterans in economic fields in South Korea discussed ways to address the transformation, to some 200-strong a

Economy June 7, 2018

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 16th installment. - Ed.To retail shop owners occupied with day-to-day operations, managing card payments is an integral part of doing business, but at the same time, a time-consuming hassle.Vendors in South Korea, where there are a total of eight card companies in business, also face the same situation, particularly as cards have become the main means of payment.In 2017,

Market June 5, 2018

Samsung SDS on Monday launched a financial platform powered by blockchain and artificial intelligence, designed to help the local banking industry to cut cost, minimize security threats and streamline financial procedures, the firm said.Dubbed “Nexfinance,” the new platform features user applications that would automate a customer’s process of tracking and integrating financial records from different financial companies, getting product recommendations, claiming insurance and m

Market June 4, 2018

South Korea’s financial markets will shut down on June 13 for a designated holiday for local election, according to the Korea Exchange Monday.  Markets trading equities, derivatives and commodities here will be closed throughout the day, based on the internal regulations by the KRX. Also, settlement or liquidation of stocks, derivatives and interest rate swaps in Korean won and US dollar will not be conducted during the day.The KRX operates markets for stocks, exchange-traded funds or

Market June 4, 2018

This is the 56th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. Only two decades ago, today’s genome sequencing technology sounded like magic. Driven by growing interest in the mysteries of the human body and passion for finding a cure, the market for genome sequencing service market has doubled in eight years. The price of the service also plummeted significantly in the 15 years leading to 2016, giving researchers easier access cost-wise to geno

Industry June 3, 2018

The banking industry here has been stirred up following the arrest warrant sought by the prosecution against KEB Hana Bank Chief Executive Officer Ham Young-joo last Wednesday, in the latest development of the recruitment scandal. Ham will face a hearing on the arrest warrant on Friday.If the court decides to issue the warrant, Ham will become the first incumbent head of a South Korean commercial bank to be under arrest on charges of hiring irregularities.  The prosecution views a banking f

Market May 31, 2018

Two financial units under the Samsung conglomerate -- Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance -- unveiled plans Wednesday to sell off their Samsung Electronics shares by Thursday.Samsung Life Insurance, holding 8.23 percent of Samsung Electronics as of Wednesday, will sell off some 23 million shares worth 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion), so that its ownership ratio will decrease to 7.92 percent, its regulatory filing showed.Also, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance will se

Market May 30, 2018

A total of 62,000 employees and executives of South Korean steelmaker Posco working in 53 nations participated in an annual weeklong volunteer event for each of their working communities, the firm said Wednesday.The volunteer work included a project for coral reef rehabilitation in Pattaya, a resort city on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, where some 100 employees at Posco-SouthAsia and Posco-Thainox took part in placing some 300 young coral reefs to restore the coast’s ecosystem, accordi

Industry May 30, 2018