major domestic banks

Debt financing Korea Securities Finance eyes its 1st foreign bond sale in 2026

Korea Securities Finance Corp. (KSF) is preparing to issue its first foreign currency-denominated bonds in 2026 to provide low-cost funding to domes...

Earnings KakaoBank posts record Q1 profit, eyes Thai expansion after Indonesia

KakaoBank Corp., a leading South Korean internet-only bank, posted its highest quarterly profit in the first quarter, defying a drop in interest inc...

Woori Financial wins approval for Tongyang, ABL Life acquisition

Woori Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s fourth-largest financial services provider, has received conditional approval from the country&rsquo...

Debt financing Kookmin Bank raises $700 mn in forex bonds amid strong demand

Kookmin Bank, a unit of KB Financial Group, raised $700 million in foreign exchange bonds on Tuesday, signaling a recovery in investor sentiment tow...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Hanwha Ocean shares sink after KDB's sale of 4.2% stake

Investors rushed to dump Hanwha Ocean Co. shares early Tuesday after its second-largest shareholder, Korea Development Bank, cashed in on a 4.2% sta...

Mergers & Acquisitions Kyobo Life poised to buy Japan’s SBI Group-owned savings bank

Kyobo Life Insurance Co. is in the final stages of negotiation with Japanese financial group SBI Holdings Inc. to buy about a 50% stake in SBI Savin...

Batteries POSCO Future M to make spherical graphite as it cuts dependence on China

POSCO Future M Co., South Korea’s leading battery materials maker, is set to manufacture spherical graphite – a critical material for ba...

Mergers & Acquisitions LG Chem’s medical skincare business sale draws tepid bid

South Korean chemical giant LG Chem Ltd.'s offer for sale of its cosmetics filler business, tagged with an asking price of more than 500 billion won...

Shipping & Shipbuilding With domestic dockyards fully booked, Korean shipbuilders turn overseas

As order books swell amid green shipping mandates, LNG demand and military naval modernization, South Korean shipbuilders are extending their global...

Travel & Leisure S.Korea’s foreigners-only casinos bask in return of Chinese high rollers

South Korea’s foreigners-only casinos are witnessing a significant rise in their sales revenue with the return of high rollers from China and ...

Pension funds S.Korea’s NPS to double pension fund size by 2050, hike risky assets

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) is projected to nearly double its fund size to 3,500 trillion won ($2.38 trillion) by 2050, follo...

Banking & Finance Shinhan Bank partners with Hyundai Mobis for loan services to suppliers

Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s top auto parts maker, has partnered with the country’s biggest lender Shinhan Bank to help its partners...

Executive reshuffles Naver to name new CFO as incumbent financial manager's term nears end

South Korea’s tech giant Naver Corp. is expected to soon announce a new chief financial officer as its current CFO Kim Nam-sun, credited for t...

Shipping & Shipbuilding Samsung Heavy eyes $5.5 bn FLNG ship deals as Trump sanctions China

GEOJE, South Gyeongsang – At a huge shipyard operated by Samsung Heavy Industries Co. on Geoje, an island in South Gyeongsang province some 39...

Foreign exchange Seoul to lift curbs on banks' investment in kimchi bonds

South Korea will lift restrictions on banks' purchase of domestically issued foreign currency bonds, dubbed “kimchi bonds," as part of policy ...

Foreign exchange South Korea’s forex reserves dip to nearly 5-year low in February

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves diminished to the lowest level in nearly five years last month, largely due to the expanded forex swap...

Central bank Bank of Korea cuts rates, growth forecast on Trump tariff policy

South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday cut interest rates while sharply reducing its economic growth forecast as lingering political turmoil fo...

Travel & Leisure J-R AMC, BlueCove bid on $70 million sale of Mirae Asset, NPS’ Shilla Stay

The sale of Shilla Stay Dongtan, a premium business hotel operated by South Korea’s Hotel Shilla Co., has attracted four bidders, underscoring...

Steel Korea to probe Chinese, Japanese steel imports over anti-dumping claims

South Korea is set to launch an anti-dumping investigation into hot-rolled steel imports from China and Japan, according to government and industry ...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s Hanwha eyes L-SAM exports with UAE’s EDGE  

Hanwha Group’s Vice Chairman and heir apparent Kim Dong-kwan is on the front line to export South Korea's latest homegrown air defense system ...

Aerospace & Defense S.Korea’s defense order backlog reaches record $73.1 billion at end-2024

South Korea’s seven major defense companies saw their combined order backlog reach a record 105.6 trillion won ($73.1 billion) at the end of 2...

Economy S.Korea’s default risk dips below pre-martial law levels

South Korea’s financial market has stabilized with a sharp fall in the country’s default risk and some recovery of its currency value ag...

Commodities FOMO-driven gold rush lifts kimchi premium on gold to highest level

With South Korean retail investors joining the global gold rush in ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO, the country’s gold price has ...

Cryptocurrencies S.Korea to allow listed firms to trade cryptocurrencies in second half

South Korea plans to allow companies listed on the local stock market to trade virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, on a pilot basis in the s...

Asset management US Capital Group raises stake in South Korea’s LS Electric

Capital Group Companies Inc. has increased its stake in LS Electric Co., a South Korean supplier to Elon Musk’s X.AI Corp., as the US asset ma...

Earnings Hanwha Systems posts record earnings in 2024 on brisk defense sales

Hanwha Systems Co., a leading South Korean defense company, reported its best-ever earnings last year thanks to brisk sales of its defense systems i...

Earnings Shinhan Bank reclaims top spot as S.Korea’s leading lender

Shinhan Bank, a key arm of Shinhan Financial Group, reclaimed its position as South Korea’s top lender posting its largest-ever profit in 2024...

Korean startups Funding to Korean tech startups at 7-year low; seed funding soars

New funding to South Korean tech startups dropped to its lowest level in seven years in 2024. But seed funding soared 142% led by semiconductor, hea...

Regulations South Korea allows foreigners to trade treasuries via omnibus accounts

South Korea will allow foreign investors to trade South Korean treasury bonds via omnibus accounts under the names of global custodians or asset man...

Investment banking MBK’s ByungJu Kim, UBS’ Kyungin Lee: Most influential in capital market

Michael ByungJu Kim, co-founder, partner and chairman of Northeast Asia-focused private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd., and Kyungin David Lee, UBS Gl...