The Korea Times

Banks prepare to resume ELS sales, eyeing boost in non-interest income

Banks are preparing to resume sales of equity-linked securities (ELS) after their suspension following a controversy over the mis-selling of products tied to the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) in Hong Kong, industry officials said Wednesday. They noted that ELS products are viewed as a potential new source of non-interest income. However, with financial authorities taking longer than expected to finalize guidelines, banks are unlikely to restart sales in September as initially anticipated, and are instead preparing to resume as early as October. ELS products are structured financial instruments with returns tied to the performance of a specific stock or stock index. The HSCEI ELS controversy centered on significant consumer losses amid a combination of unfavorable factors such as China’s property market restrictions, U.S.-China tensions and global interest rate hikes. Banks came under fire for causing heavy losses by selling large volumes of complex, high-risk financial products without providing sufficient explanation to buyers. In response, the Financial Services Commission

Aug 27, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Banks prepare to resume ELS sales, eyeing boost in non-interest income

Others

Market focus shifts to fundamentals as uncertainties ease after Korea-US summit

The first summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump helped ease tensions and uncertainties in the domestic financial market, paving the way for investors to shift their attention to fundamentals such as corporate earnings, market analysts said Tuesday. Park Sang-hyun, an analyst at iM Securities, described the talks as “a partially successful defensive summit,” noting that Korea’s approach focused more on safeguarding interests than on extracting concessions from the U.S. “No contentious issues were raised regarding trade or economic cooperation, and President Trump did not put forward new demands,” Park said. “Potentially sensitive topics, such as alliance modernization and defense cost-sharing, were also largely absent from the press conference, which was another positive sign.” The domestic financial market had been somewhat unsettled this month due to the Korea-U.S. tariff talks and the summit. With both matters concluding without major surprises, much of the uncertainty has now been resolved, Park said, adding that market attention is incr

Aug 26, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Market focus shifts to fundamentals as uncertainties ease after Korea-US summit

Banking & Finance

SNT Group buoyed by IMM Credit & Solutions as affiliates hit record highs

Shares of SNT Group affiliates have reached all-time highs after IMM Credit & Solutions (ICS), a subsidiary of the Korean private equity firm IMM Private Equity, made a strategic 200 billion won ($144 million) investment, market watchers said Tuesday. They noted that ICS’ broad-based efforts to enhance corporate value have paid off. Last month, ICS made its investment by purchasing 200 billion won in exchangeable bonds issued by SNT Group, a leading medium-sized player in Korea’s defense and energy sectors. The deal covered SNT Dynamics, SNT Energy and SNT Holdings. ICS believes the group’s stable cash flows in these sectors support expectations for long-term growth. The market responded swiftly to the investment news. Strong buying by both institutional and retail investors boosted trading volumes, driving consecutive gains for the three affiliates. SNT Dynamics jumped 5.19 percent on Monday, closing at 62,800 won and briefly reaching an intraday high of 64,900 won, setting a record. SNT Energy also hit a historic peak of 56,600 won on July 29. SNT Dynamics produces essential defens

Aug 26, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

SNT Group buoyed by IMM Credit & Solutions as affiliates hit record highs

Politics

Ruling party passes revision toughening Commercial Act despite opposition from biz groups

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) pushed through a revision toughening the Commercial Act aimed at expanding minority shareholder rights, Monday. The DPK, which holds a majority in the National Assembly, railroaded the bill during a plenary session in the morning after an overnight filibuster by the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), which claims the new rule will make it difficult for management to maintain stable control of companies. In the plenary vote, 180 voted in favor and two abstained out of 182 lawmakers present. All supporting votes came from the DPK and its allied parties, while the two members of the minor conservative Reform Party abstained. Most PPP lawmakers, who opposed the bill, boycotted the vote. Under the revision, listed companies with assets exceeding 2 trillion won ($1.4 billion) are required to adopt cumulative voting, and will have to select at least two audit committee members separately from other board members, up from the current standard of one. Cumulative voting allows minority shareholders to check controlling shareholders when electing di

Aug 25, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Ruling party passes revision toughening Commercial Act despite opposition from biz groups

Cryptocurrency

Will Lee administration push ahead with crypto taxation in 2027?

The number of investors holding more than 1 billion won ($722,000) worth of virtual assets on domestic won-based exchanges has surpassed 10,000, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Sunday. The base of virtual asset investors is also expanding rapidly, with total users reaching 10.87 million. This means that about one in every five Koreans holds an account across the country’s five major exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb. Their combined holdings are estimated at 111.65 trillion won. While both capital inflows and the investor base have grown significantly, profits from coin investments still remain outside the tax framework. This contrasts with the securities market, where reforms are underway to lower the capital gains tax threshold for major shareholders from 5 billion won per stock to 1 billion won. This has raised questions over whether the Lee Jae Myung administration, which is under pressure to secure revenue amid its expansionary fiscal stance, will move forward with implementing virtual asset taxation as scheduled in 2027. Data submitted by the FS

Aug 25, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Will Lee administration push ahead with crypto taxation in 2027?

Banking & Finance

No. of bank branches shrinks 20% since pandemic, but agency banking pilot stalls

The total number of bank branches nationwide has fallen by nearly 20 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the government’s pilot project for bank agency services, designed to improve consumer financial access, has made little headway, according to an opposition lawmaker Sunday. Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the People Power Party cited data from the Korea Federation of Banks showing that domestic banks operated 5,654 branches at the end of 2019, but the figure dropped to 4,572 by the end of this July, a decline of 19.1 percent over five years and seven months. Branch closures occurred every year and across all regions during the period. Daegu saw the sharpest contraction, with its branch count falling 23.6 percent from 292 to 223, followed by Seoul, which recorded a 22.6 percent decline from 1,864 to 1,443. Banks have been shutting down or consolidating offline branches to streamline operations amid the growing digitalization of financial services. To prevent financial exclusion, particularly for older adults and people in less accessible regions, the Financial Services Commission (FSC),

Aug 24, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

No. of bank branches shrinks 20% since pandemic, but agency banking pilot stalls

Banking & Finance

Opportunity for all: Lucentblock reshapes real estate investment with financial innovation

Lucentblock, established in 2018 and based in Daejeon, is the first fintech company outside the Seoul metropolitan area to be recognized by the Financial Services Commission as an innovative financial service provider. Under its vision statement of “Until anyone can access any asset,” the firm operates SOU, a platform for fractional real estate investment that lists properties on an exchange and issues profit securities, opening a new path for inclusive real estate participation. Fractional investment involves dividing high-value assets or rights, such as buildings or artworks, into tradable shares, enabling many investors to participate with relatively small amounts. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, CEO and co-founder Huh Se-young, also known as Phillip Huh, said that SOU is transforming the conventional asset market while fostering an ecosystem where investors, tenants and local communities can grow together. Demonstrating its effectiveness, the platform has so far sold out 11 offerings and in July, the company marked its first successful exit by selling a shared office

Aug 23, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Opportunity for all: Lucentblock reshapes real estate investment with financial innovation

Cryptocurrency

Coinone shifts leadership solely to Lee Seong-hyun

Cha Myung-hoon, the founder of Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone who has led the company for the past 11 years, has stepped down from his role as CEO, the firm said Tuesday. Following Cha’s resignation, his co-CEO, Lee Seong-hyun, is taking charge of company operations going forward. Lee joined Coinone as chief operating officer in January and was appointed co-CEO the following month. As the sole chief executive, he will now be responsible for setting business strategies and overseeing overall operations to drive the firm’s long-term growth. After stepping down from the co-CEO position, Cha will focus on his role as chairman of the board. As chairman, he plans to address key management issues and help shape the company’s mid- to long-term vision, including exploring new business opportunities. Cha remains Coinone’s largest shareholder with a 53.46 percent stake. “This move is intended to enable the company to respond more flexibly to the evolving regulatory environment of the virtual asset industry and to strengthen competitiveness,” a Coinone official said. “Under the s

Aug 19, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Coinone shifts leadership solely to Lee Seong-hyun

Cryptocurrency

Dunamu fined for failing to comply with regulatory conditions on unlisted stock platform

Dunamu, the operator of Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, has been fined by financial authorities for failing to comply with conditions set for its major subsidiary, Stockplus Unlisted, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Tuesday. The financial watchdog disclosed on Monday that it had levied a 24 million won ($17,000) fine on Dunamu after finding that the company did not adhere to updates to the financial innovation service requirements issued in March 2022 and June 2023 regarding the subsidiary. Stockplus Unlisted, an unlisted stock trading platform launched by Dunamu in November 2019, was designated as a financial innovation service by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country’s top financial regulator, in April 2020. Its designation was renewed in March 2022 with stricter investor protection measures, including a rule preventing ordinary investors from purchasing additional professional-grade stocks. Despite this, the platform allowed ordinary investors who already held professional-grade stocks to make additional purchases between July 2022 and Se

Aug 19, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Dunamu fined for failing to comply with regulatory conditions on unlisted stock platform

Others

Intense heat waves drive up seafood prices, spotlighting need for stronger climate response

Seafood prices, including fish and shellfish, have been fluctuating widely this summer due to repeated heat waves, government data showed Friday. The scorching temperatures also increase the risk of mass deaths among farmed fish, making further price hikes likely for sashimi-grade species such as flatfish and rockfish. Data from Statistics Korea showed that the fish and shellfish price index rose 7.6 percent in July from the same month last year, marking the largest increase in two years and five months since it rose 8.1 percent in February 2023. The rate of increase exceeded that of all agricultural, livestock and fishery products, which climbed 2.1 percent, and the fresh food index, which gained 2 percent. By product, yellow croaker prices jumped 13.4 percent from a year earlier, while mackerel and oysters rose 12.6 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively. Shrimp prices climbed 9 percent, dried seaweed 8.2 percent and dried squid 6.6 percent, all surpassing the overall inflation rate. In particular, peak summer heat could push farmed seafood prices sharply higher, as higher water tempera

Aug 15, 2025By Jun Ji-hye

Jun Ji-hye

Read more

Banks prepare to resume ELS sales, eyeing boost in non-interest income

Market focus shifts to fundamentals as uncertainties ease after Korea-US summit

SNT Group buoyed by IMM Credit & Solutions as affiliates hit record highs

Ruling party passes revision toughening Commercial Act despite opposition from biz groups

Will Lee administration push ahead with crypto taxation in 2027?

No. of bank branches shrinks 20% since pandemic, but agency banking pilot stalls

Opportunity for all: Lucentblock reshapes real estate investment with financial innovation

Coinone shifts leadership solely to Lee Seong-hyun

Dunamu fined for failing to comply with regulatory conditions on unlisted stock platform

Intense heat waves drive up seafood prices, spotlighting need for stronger climate response

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