World Bank's new Vice President for Digital Transformation Kim Sang-bu outlined his mission to enhance the impact of digital technologies in accelerating development. "Digital technology has become a critical focus as the World Bank advances initiatives aimed at eradicating poverty," Kim said at a press meeting in Seoul on Tuesday. "A major challenge is ensuring that low-income countries without internet access can benefit from rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.&q

Economy Aug. 6, 2024

Thailand’s largest financial group SCBX has reaffirmed its commitment to the digital banking partnership with Kakao Bank despite growing legal risks surrounding Kakao Corp., the largest shareholder of the Korean internet-only bank. "We do not foresee any changes to our current business relationship (with Kakao Bank) based on the recent news," SCBX's Chief Customer Officer Sutirapan Sakkawatra told The Korea Herald via email, regarding the impact of Kakao's legal develop

Industry Aug. 6, 2024

Betary Syahlan, a final-year business management student at Kyunghee University in South Korea, said she enrolled in Woori Bank's "Woori Internship, Scholarship & Hiring" program to gain practical experience in global banking. "During the program, we are given various assignments that immerse us in real work, an opportunity often lacking in other internships, especially in Indonesia. Working at a major bank like Woori is challenging, but we are definitely learning a lot i

Industry Aug. 5, 2024

The South Korean government is considering stricter regulations on e-commerce platforms' involvement in financial services, aiming to avert another payment failure crisis amid ongoing investigations into cases involving Tmon and WeMakePrice. According to industry sources, local financial regulators are contemplating measures to prevent the platforms from controlling vendor capital by legally separating payment gateway (PG) services from e-commerce platforms. A payment gateway facilitates el

Industry Aug. 4, 2024

South Korea's leading card firm, Shinhan Card, has strengthened its foothold in Kazakhstan's auto finance market by establishing a joint venture with the nation's top used-car seller Aster Auto. Shinhan Finance, the Kazakh unit of Shinhan Card, announced on Sunday the launch of this joint venture with Aster Auto. This development follows their initial plan, unveiled in December, to set up a collaborative corporation. According to the plan, Aster will invest around 31 billion won (

Industry Aug. 4, 2024

The local units of the cash-crunched Singapore-based Qoo10 group are scrambling to escape the sinking boat, with possible acquisition deals coming onto the table. Among the speculations was Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress' buyout of the Korean online marketplace WeMakePrice, yet AliExpress Korea denied the rumor Thursday. "We are not considering acquiring WeMakePrice, and we confirm that we have not been contacted by the company," said an official from AliExpress Korea. Ear

Economy Aug. 1, 2024

Once a prominent figure in the Korean e-commerce sector, Qoo10 Group's CEO Ku Young-bae is now facing allegations of a Ponzi scheme involving delayed payments amounting to thousands of billions of won for vendors on local online marketplaces Tmon and WeMakePrice. These accusations emerged after Ku disclosed during a National Assembly hearing on Tuesday that the Singapore-based parent company used assets from its Korean subsidiaries to acquire American e-commerce platform Wish in February. Ku dis

Economy July 31, 2024

Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae pledged a "complete recovery of damages" related to the payment delays affecting its struggling e-commerce affiliates, Tmon and WeMakePrice, with government support. Addressing the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Ku's commitment followed the companies' court receivership filing the previous day. "We will be at a standstill if business operations halt now," Ku said, adding that, with minimal assistance, complet

Economy July 30, 2024

Cash-strapped e-commerce platforms Tmon and WeMakePrice filed for corporate rehabilitation on Monday. The Seoul Bankruptcy Court announced that the two companies, embroiled in controversy over delayed payments amid a liquidity crisis at their Singapore-based parent, Qoo10 Group, have sought court-supervised restructuring. Corporate rehabilitation allows financially distressed companies to restructure their debts and operations. While this process enables the companies to continue their business

Economy July 29, 2024

Shinhan Financial Group on Friday unveiled a corporate value enhancement plan detailing specific targets and strategies to boost profitability. According to the plan, the financial giant aims to achieve a 10 percent return on equity, a 50 percent shareholder return rate and reduce its shares by 50 million by 2027. To reach a 50 percent shareholder return rate, Shinhan plans to decrease the number of shares through ongoing stock buybacks and cancellations. Last year, the company's shareholde

Industry July 26, 2024

After a four-year legal battle, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo has escaped regulatory punishment imposed for internal control failure involving the misselling of derivatives-linked funds. On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the appellate court's decision to cancel the major disciplinary action taken by financial authorities on Ham over the losses from the overseas interest rate-linked derivative fund incident in 2019. The top court confirmed the lower court’s ruling, wh

Industry July 26, 2024

South Korea unveiled its tax code revision bill Thursday, featuring a major overhaul of the outdated inheritance tax system and new measures to boost investment and encourage marriage. Featuring tax cuts and incentives, the plan is expected to reduce tax revenue by approximately 4.4 trillion won ($3.17 billion) over the next five years. However, the government projects that economic recovery later this year will improve revenue conditions and offset this reduction. "This year's tax rev

Economy July 25, 2024

In Korea, there's a saying that farmers raise a cow to send their children to college, reflecting the long-standing value of cattle. Once exclusive to farmers, livestock has recently become an investment option for the public, allowing individuals to invest without the burden of managing a farm. Bankcow, a fractional investment platform, recently achieved a milestone by completing Korea's first public offering of securities backed by live assets — 100 Korean beef cattle. Despite

Industry July 23, 2024

Goldman Sachs has tapped Ahn Jae-hoon, a veteran dealmaker and a former vice president of SK Bioscience, to head its investment banking business in South Korea. The bank announced Monday that Ahn has been appointed as the head of its investment banking in Korea and co-country head. The positions have been vacant since the departure of David Chung in early June. Ahn will join the Wall Street bank as a managing director in mid-August from SK Bioscience, where he served as head of strategic plannin

Industry July 22, 2024

MG Non-Life Insurance's third attempt to find a new owner has failed amid concerns over its financial stability. Samjong KPMG, the lead advisor for the insurer's sale, conducted the final bidding on Friday, but no participants showed up, according to sources in the financial sector. Local private equity fund Dayli Partners and US-based JC Flowers were likely contenders, having participated in the preliminary bidding. However, neither showed up for the final round. Under current law, on

Industry July 21, 2024