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Seoul shares open higher on US gains following Fed's rate freeze

Korean stocks opened slightly higher Thursday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve kept the benchmark rates unchanged. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 8.01 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,581.81 in the first 15 minutes of trading. In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.27 percent. Earlier, the U.S. central bank held its key rates steady, pointing to risks posed by both higher inflation and unemployment. In Seoul, tech, auto and battery shares led the positive start. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 1.1 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix advanced 2.52 percent. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 0.27 percent, and its sister Kia added 0.23 percent. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution went up 0.31 percent, and POSCO Future M increased 0.49 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,396.5 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 1.5 won from the previous session.

May 8, 2025By Yonhap
Seoul shares open higher on US gains following Fed's rate freeze

Meritz’s bungled online stock trading adds to security concerns

Meritz Securities had suffered a technical problem in brokering U.S. stock trade, adding to concerns over repeated system failures reported in the domestic securities sector, according to industry officials, Wednesday. The brokerage arm of Meritz Financial Group had trouble taking online orders from customers to buy and sell stocks on the U.S. market right after the market opened at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday (KST). The company worked on troubleshooting and the service was normalized about an hour later. “The problem has been full resolved and orders for U.S. stock trade are being processed normally,” Meritz Securities said. “We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused, and will take compensational measures promptly for customers who are affected by malfunction of the service." Despite its apology, industry officials expressed concerns in light of similar incidents recently. They cited a need for a comprehensive check-up on the online trading system across the domestic securities companies. “Such a check-up may be especially crucial at a time when more investors are trading shares on

May 7, 2025By Yi Whan-woo
Meritz’s bungled online stock trading adds to security concerns

Brokerages launch marketing blitz on YouTube to attract investors

Securities firms are intensifying marketing campaigns on YouTube by using all the creative means they can think of, in a bid to attract a wider range of investors and survive intensifying competition, according to industry officials, Wednesday. Some companies are capitalizing on the global boom of Korean pop culture. Samsung Securities created a music video, while Mirae Asset Securities produced a multi-part drama series. For NH Investment & Securities, it came up with a talk show featuring TV celebrity Jung Hyuk as a regular guest to share investment strategies. These companies and others also give out prizes like coffee coupons, movie tickets and gift cards — all for free — in their livestreamed lectures. “Marketing appears to be heating up in the brokerage sector, as brand awareness is becoming crucial in the industry with its widening wealth gap between bigger and smaller firms,” said Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korean Stockholders’ Alliance, which advocates for retail shareholders’ rights. “The bigger players try to enhance their brand image while the smaller ones are de

May 7, 2025By Yi Whan-woo
Brokerages launch marketing blitz on YouTube to attract investors

Kakao Bank logs largest-ever earnings in Q1

Online lender Kakao Bank said Wednesday its net profit hit a record high in the first quarter of the year on increased non-interest income and a steady rise in its customer base. Its net profit came to 137 billion won ($99.1 million) in the January-March period, up 23.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit surged 23.3 percent to 183 billion won over the cited period. Revenue gained 9.3 percent on-year to 785 billion won. The company attributed the sharp increase in its earnings to a steady rise in non-interest income and more customers. Its non-interest income came in at 282 billion won, up 33 percent from a year earlier, while its interest income declined 0.6 percent on-year to 503 billion won over the cited period. Its loans to households stood at 42.02 trillion won at the end of March, up 1.83 trillion won from a year ago. The company said its number of customers had stood at 25.45 million as of end-March, up from 24.88 million from three months earlier. Its monthly active users hit 18.9 million, according to the bank.

May 7, 2025By Yonhap
Kakao Bank logs largest-ever earnings in Q1

Consumers frustrated with rising lending rates, falling deposit rates

Min, a 40-year-old office worker, says she gets a headache every time she checks the household lending rate. She hopes to move into a larger home in Daejeon, but high interest rates continue to hold her back. "Even though the benchmark rate is coming down, loan interest rates don’t seem to be dropping," she said. "It’s hard not to worry about the second half of the year." According to the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB), the interest rate gap between household loans and deposits at the five major commercial banks hit a record high in March, ranging from 1.38 to 1.55 percentage points. This means borrowing has become more expensive, while saving is less rewarding — leaving households financially squeezed on both ends. For Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank, the gap was the largest since the KFB began publishing this data in July 2022. KB Kookmin, Woori and NH NongHyup also recorded their widest spreads since 2023 — a period marked by aggressive policy rate hikes aimed at curbing high inflation. The trend was even more pronounced among regional banks. Despite the Bank of Korea initiating a

May 6, 2025By Lee Yeon-woo
Consumers frustrated with rising lending rates, falling deposit rates

Interview'US domestic demand-focused ETFs worth buying amid global trade uncertainties'

Blue-chip companies that primarily make profits in the United States are recommended when buying an exchange-traded fund (ETF), in order to mitigate risks from global economic uncertainties heightened by the widening trade war. At the same time, companies that are highly competitive in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race are also worthy in the ETF market even if they are from outside the U.S., namely China. Pedro Palandrani, head of Global X's Product Research & Development, made the recommendations as he provided a set of guidelines for leveraging opportunities in the U.S. ETF market amid a challenging investment environment. An ETF is a collection of securities, such as stocks or bonds, that trade on an exchange like a regular stock. Based in New York, Global X is one of 13 overseas ETF subsidiaries of Mirae Asset Global Investments. Others are found in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India and Japan, among other locations. “We wake up and there is new news around trade policies, and given that uncertainty in the geopolitical environment, we’re finding clients who are micro-t

May 5, 2025By Yi Whan-woo
'US domestic demand-focused ETFs worth buying amid global trade uncertainties'

Banks seek to attract young customers for future business

A growing number of commercial lenders are offering cash-equivalent vouchers to parents with children in order to lock in a possible future revenue stream, according to industry officials Thursday. Driving these efforts is the rapid loss of market share to internet-only peers, whose mobile app-based services are tailored to a young, digitally savvy demographic. Most traditional lenders are expanding promotional campaigns in which parents are given up to 70,000 won ($49.14) for opening savings or home subscription accounts under their children’s names. Woori Bank recently offered 50,000 won to parents for opening new accounts under the names of children born in 2024. It also offered an additional 20,000 won for parents opening a home subscription account, meant to help save towards future house purchases, under their children’s name. KB Kookmin Bank had a similar campaign where up to 30,000 won worth of mobile gift coupons were provided. The lender offered 10,000 won worth of coupons redeemable on Baemin, a food delivery app, to parents who opened savings accounts for children under 14

May 1, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Banks seek to attract young customers for future business

Will Kyobo’s SBI takeover revive interest in struggling savings banks?

Kyobo Life Insurance’s acquisition of SBI Savings Bank — the largest player in Korea’s savings bank industry — has drawn interest in whether the deal could revitalize mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the sector, which has been grappling with declining profitability and worsening asset quality, industry officials said Wednesday. There are currently 79 savings banks operating in Korea, but many are small in terms of loan volume and face rising delinquency rates, prompting ongoing calls for industry-wide restructuring. Insiders say it may take time for the M&A market in the savings bank sector to gain meaningful momentum, as the industry remains in a slump with few players willing to jump in. They noted that Kyobo Life’s acquisition of SBI is considered an exceptional case, largely due to the bank’s strong position in the industry and its long-standing business ties with the insurer. On Monday, Kyobo’s board of directors approved a plan to gradually acquire a 50 percent plus one share stake in SBI Savings Bank by October 2026. The shares will be purchased from SBI Holdings,

Apr 30, 2025By Jun Ji-hye
Will Kyobo’s SBI takeover revive interest in struggling savings banks?

SK Telecom cyberattack fuels data breach concerns in finance sector

A growing number of commercial lenders, card companies, insurance firms and brokerages are strengthening user authentication systems in response to a recent cyberattack on SK Telecom, which partially exposed customers' universal subscriber identity module (USIM) data, market watchers said Tuesday. They say at least two additional steps beyond telecom carrier-mediated user verification are needed to authorize mobile financial transactions, including cash remittances. The USIM data will therefore not be enough to sign in or change personal information online, they added. Many financial companies are adding face recognition features for better data protection. Fraud detection systems are also being strengthened to identify unauthorized financial transactions. According to KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori banks, facial recognition will be required for SK Telecom users for ID verification. This will apply to users seeking to issue new digital certificates or attempt to complete mobile financial transactions on a new cellphone. “An attempt to wire money, for example, will be denied without

Apr 29, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
SK Telecom cyberattack fuels data breach concerns in finance sector
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