The Financial Supervisory Service is looking to scrutinize whether executives’ decision to exercise stock options that prompted a stock plunge at Kakao Pay was a sign of risk management deficiencies the financial services firm should address, according to an FSS official. The CEO and two other executives at Kakao Pay stepped down Thursday amid criticism that their exercise of stock options in December last year, a month after the firm listed, brought an unwarranted stock dip.  The C

South Korean stocks retreated nearly 1 percent Friday, marking the lowest closing since December 2020, due to inflation woes amid heightened expectations of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 28.39 points, or 0.99 percent, to close at 2,834.29 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 524 million shares worth some 10.5 trillion won ($8.8 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers

Sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) in South Korea expanded nearly 5 percent in 2021 from a year earlier on greater issuance of products tracking overseas stocks, data showed Friday. The value of ELS products floated in Asia's fourth-largest economy stood at 72.2 trillion won ($60.5 billion) last year, up 4.6 percent from the prior year, according to the data from the Korea Securities Depository. ELS refers to hybrid debt securities whose returns are linked to the performance of underlying

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking an overnight fall on Wall Street amid surging global inflation woes and rising interest rates. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 21.6 points, or 0.75 percent, to 2,841.08 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.  On Thursday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.9 percent, the broad-based S&P 500 went down 1.1 percent and the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, decre

An 11-member brokerage syndicate underwriting an initial public offering of LG Energy Solution next week is expected to raise a whopping 89 billion won ($75 million) in management fees following the record-breaking retail bids, made on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to regulatory filings on Thursday. The fees account for 0.7 percent of 12.7 trillion won that the electric vehicle battery maker is expected to raise from a total of 42.5 million shares priced at 300,000 won apiece. Separately, th

Kakao, one of South Korea’s two largest internet giants along with Naver, is seen as holding back its plans to float shares of key subsidiaries in listings, amid looming market disappointment over controversial sell-offs by executives. Earlier this month, CEOs of Kakao Pay and KakaoBank were accused of driving down stock prices with sell-offs that critics say should not have taken place right after their listings when their shares ran high. This prompted regulators to vow greater protecti

South Korean stocks rebounded Thursday on investors' move to buy oversold stocks after the recent stock plunge and China's interest rate cut. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 20.4 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 2,862.68 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 388 million shares worth some 8.7 trillion won ($7.3 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 709 to 174. Institutions bought a net 106 billion won and r

The head of South Korea's financial regulator said Thursday he is seeking to ease restrictions on financial companies' investment in fintech firms as part of efforts to expand support for the fast-growing industry. Jeong Eun-bo, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks in a meeting with leading officials of the fintech industry, saying his agency will push for the enactment of a relevant law on the matter. "We will push for the enactment of the so-called fintech

South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank opened a branch in Singapore, which will work as its gateway into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and global markets, the firm said Thursday. The launch of the branch came eight months after KB Kookmin was granted a license to operate a wholesale bank from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to the firm. The new branch’s key focuses are retail, corporate and investment banking and will partially deal with brokerage services. Wi

South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Thursday as investors sought to buy oversold stocks after the recent stock plunge. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) rose 4.19 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,846.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks edged up after a choppy start, following the key stock index's four-day losing streak. Steel and chemical heavyweights led the gain. Steelmaker Posco added 2.64 percent, battery maker LG Chem advanced 1.23 percent, and SK In

South Korean stocks extended their losing streak to a fifth consecutive session Wednesday as rising US yields and rate hike forecast weighed on investor sentiment. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 21.96 points, or 0.77 percent, to close at 2,842.28 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 457 million shares worth some 9.6 trillion won ($8.1 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 653

Over 114 trillion won ($95.5 billion) in cash deposits from about 4.4 million retail investors flowed into a mega initial public offering by LG Energy Solution during a two-day subscription that ended Wednesday, reflecting explosive interest in the company’s market debut. The world’s second-largest battery maker has already attracted the highest amount of deposits from a total of 1,988 domestic and foreign institutional investors, which pledged some 15,000 trillion won in total to b

SEJONG -- Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki raised the possibility that the housing market could be swayed by pledges of presidential candidates, and suggested he would try to block any speculative actions in particular regions via close monitoring. During a meeting of ministers in charge of real estate policies on Wednesday, Hong said there are symptoms that “home prices in some regions have been affected by pledges over large-scale development during the presidentia

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday, tracking an overnight plunge on Wall Street amid heightened expectations of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 19.22 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,845.02 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.  On Tuesday (local time), the Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.51 percent, the S&P 500 went down 1.84 percent and the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, de

The Korea Exchange on Tuesday announced its decision to delist biotech company SillaJen, 20 months after the biotech company’s market transactions were stopped due to breach of trust and embezzlement charges. The stock market operator will hold a Kosdaq market committee within the next 20 business days to finalize whether it will push ahead with the delisting decision or give SillaJen a second chance at revival. Although the company can raise an objection to the market committee if it o