Toss Securities, a brokerage arm under financial technology giant Viva Republica, shared its vision Thursday to become a leading player in the Korean retail trading market, launching new services ranging from bonds to derivatives to diversify its portfolio. “Until last year, Toss Securities worked on proving its lucrativeness as a brokerage house. This year, it will achieve meaningful results both in profitability and growth by offering diverse financial products,” Toss Securities CE

Industry March 14, 2024

The Korean stock market rallied early Wednesday, with the benchmark Kospi breaking above 2,700 points during trading hours for the first time in nearly two years as the market tracked overnight Wall Street gains. The local benchmark Kospi touched 2,701.45 points during intraday trading. The peak came shortly after it opened at 2,694.71, marking a 12.9 points rise from the previous close at 2,681.81. After hitting a record high not seen since May 2022, the main index wiped out the gains as invest

Economy March 13, 2024

Startups in the artificial intelligence and health care sectors have secured the largest portion of investments in February, with Korea seeing a reignited funding market, a research firm said Tuesday. Local startups garnered a total of 93 investments worth 441.75 billion won ($336 million) in February, according to a report released by market intelligence firm Startup Alliance Korea. The investment volume shows a 48.6 percent jump compared to February 2023. Of the total amount, fabless AI chipma

Industry March 12, 2024

The price of bitcoin jumped to a new record in Korea on Monday, breaking through 100 million ($76,365) for the first time. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, traded at above 100 million won on the nation’s largest crypto exchange Upbit at 4:32 p.m., a surge since the price exceeded 98.4 million won on Friday. The record figure was in line with the global rally. According to global price-tracking platform CoinMarketCap, the price of bitcoin surpassed $71,200 as of 4:48 p.m.

Market March 11, 2024

Cryptocurrency exchange operator Crypto.com hopes to expand its footing here by launching an exchange app for Korea in the first half of this year, said Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer at the Singapore-based crypto trading platform. After more than two and a half years of working to build a foundation in Korea, Crypto.com is ready for full competition on the market. The company operates in 90 countries around the world and has more than 80 million global users. “We are

Industry March 11, 2024

After the global rally of bitcoin earlier this week, the “kimchi premium,” -- the price discrepancy in cryptocurrency between Korea and international markets -- has soared as well. Shortly after the global price of bitcoin hit a record high, rising above $69,000, the gap had widened to 12 percent as of Wednesday, meaning the bitcoin that traded in Korea was 12 percent more expensive than the global average. It later came down to the 6 percent range as of Thursday. While the bitcoin p

Market March 7, 2024

By Judy Hsu This year, for International Women’s Day, the United Nations has called for countries around the world to “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”. This crucial call underlines the need to address the deficit in gender equality measures as economies continue to grow. The call also emphasizes the imperative of prioritizing women’s economic empowerment because a stark reality persists: There continues to be a wide economic disparity between men and women in ma

Industry March 6, 2024

Consumer price growth resurged to above 3 percent in February, showing that Korea may be facing stickier-than-expected inflation, data suggested Wednesday. Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, advanced 3.1 percent on-year last month, according to data from Statistics Korea. Though price growth fell to 2.8 percent in January, dipping into the 2 percent range for the first time in six months, it rebounded to above 3 percent within a month. The uptick marks the first time in four months that

Economy March 6, 2024

South Korea’s gross national income per capita rebounded to over $33,000 in 2023, marking a 2.6 percent rise on-year, while the national economy grew by 1.4 percent, preliminary data from the Bank of Korea showed Tuesday. The GNI per capita, a measure of the amount of money earned per person in a nation, stood at $33,745 last year, advancing by 2.6 percent from $32,886 in 2022. The figure, drawn up by dividing national income in a year by population, helps evaluate the standard of living.

Industry March 5, 2024

Local crypto exchanges are enjoying a boom in their returns amid the snowballing bitcoin rally. Upbit, the largest crypto exchange here, saw its transaction volume in the past 24 hours surpass 12 trillion won ($8.9 billion) as of Thursday at 3 p.m. It was the first time for the figure to go over 10 trillion won since 2021. As of Friday 2:15 p.m., its transaction volume in the past 24 hours stood at 9.96 trillion won. The volume is similar in size to the average daily transaction volume for Kospi

Industry March 1, 2024

The National Assembly passed the revision bill to raise the Export-Import Bank of Korea's capital limit from the current 15 trillion won to 25 trillion won ($12.24 billion to $15 billion) on Thursday, giving the policy lender some extra room to level up its financing for the arms export deal to Poland. The revision of the Export-Import Bank of Korea Act was passed as a total of 209 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, while 29 voted against it. There were 34 abstentions. Under the revision

Economy Feb. 29, 2024

The price of bitcoin traded in Korea climbed to its highest ever Thursday, fueled by a global rally initiated from spot exchange-traded funds and an impending halving. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, traded in Korea at up to 90 million won ($67,490) on the country’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, at 3:47 p.m. On the previous day, it broke its previous high of 82.7 million won at around 6 p.m. for the first time since November 2021. After peaking at 90 million won, bitco

Market Feb. 29, 2024

South Korea's fertility rate continued its steep fall last year as it hit a record low of 0.72, darkening prospects for the country that already has the world's lowest fertility rate, data showed Wednesday. The country's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime -- came to 0.72 last year, down from 0.78 in the previous year, according to the preliminary data presented by Statistics Korea. It is the lowest level since 1970 when the state-run s

Economy Feb. 28, 2024

Hahn & Co., the nation's largest private equity firm in terms of assets under management, is to set up a joint venture with Kolon Industries, a chemical and textile manufacturing unit under Kolon Group, to bolster its industrial film business. The two entities have signed a binding memorandum of understanding to cooperate for the launch of the joint venture, according to a disclosure filed by Kolon Industries Tuesday. “The related parties are discussing the details. An announcemen

Industry Feb. 27, 2024

Former Industry Minister Yoon Jin-shik officially took the reins of the Korea International Trade Association, the nation's largest trade lobby group, after being approved at a general meeting on Tuesday. "Korea's exports experienced difficulties with the slowdown of the global economy but it will improve," Yoon said at a press event held after the meeting. "The biggest problem with exports is that they focus heavily on a certain region, while products are limited. The s

Industry Feb. 27, 2024