May 18, 2021

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EDITOR'S PICKS

• Markets 
  

  NH NongHyup launches biometric boarding service

  　NH NongHyup Bank, one of South Korea‘s five major banks, said on May 18 it has launched biometric boarding service via mobile applications for the first time as a financial institution here. 　Customers who registered their palm vein patterns at the bank’s branches will be able to travel aboard a domestic flight through contactless biometric boarding process at Gimpo International Airport, Jeju International Airport and Gimhae Airport, the bank said. Up until now, registration of b

• Markets 
  

  Ex-presidential adviser named head of Korea’s sovereign wealth fund

  　 Sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp. said on May 18 that Jin Seung-ho, the former presidential adviser for balanced national development, had started his three-year term as its chief executive officer. 　Jin is the eighth CEO of South Korea’s only sovereign wealth fund, overseeing $183.1 billion worth of dollar-denominated assets entrusted by the Bank of Korea and the Finance Ministry as of 2020. He succeeded Choi Hee-nam, whose three-year term started in 2018. 　In an inaugural

• Markets 
  

  KakaoBank’s Q1 net profit jumps 150%

  　KakaoBank, South Korea’s biggest online bank, saw more than a 150 percent growth in its first-quarter net profit due to an increase in interest income and transaction fees, the firm said May 17. 　Its net profit stood at 46.7 billion won ($41.1 million) in the first quarter, up 152.4 percent from 18.5 billion won from the same period last year, according to the banking unit of mobile giant Kakao. The company’s profit from transfer fees turned around from a net loss of 3.1 billion w

• Markets 
  

  KB Asset raises W1tr for AMP Capital’s infra debt funds

  　Seoul-based KB Asset Management said on May 17 it had fetched a total of 1 trillion won ($882.1 million) for infrastructure debt exposure in developed countries under a fund-of-funds scheme with Australia-based AMP Capital. 　The third-largest firm in Korea by assets under management has raised a recent undisclosed amount of additional commitment from institutional clients for the private debt fund, reaching the milestone five years after it signed a memorandum of understanding with AMP Capita

• Markets 
  

  Climate response fund to be set up in 2022 to bolster renewable energy transition

  　The South Korean government will support the development and commercialization of clean energy technologies and set up a climate response fund next year to achieve the goal of going carbon neutral by 2050. 　Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Monday that preparation for the scenario to achieve net zero emissions is “in full swing,” while stressing the importance of a preemptive policy response related to climate cooperation. 　South Korea plans to bolster its original target of red

• Markets 
  

  Middle-income households see sharpest drop in spending

  　Responding to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s middle-income households reduced private spending more sharply than those in the higher and lower income brackets, state-run think tank the Korea Development Institute said on May 17. 　Households in the middle of the income distribution spectrum -- the third quintile, which earn 40 percent to 60 percent of the median income -- saw their consumption expenditures shrink 6.8 percent on-year in 2020, the KDI said i

• Markets 
  

  MMAA hires ex-Lotte insurance CIO

  South Korean institutional investor Military Mutual Aid Association has named Lee Sang-hee, former top investor at Lotte Non-Life Insurance, as its new chief investment officer, the firm said Monday. 　Lee’s three-year term will start on Thursday, according to the institutional investor who manages 12.7 trillion won ($11.18 billion) in assets as of 2020. He will be responsible for overseeing 5 trillion-won worth of financial assets at MMAA -- including equities, fixed-income and alternativ

• Markets 
  

  Real estate fiasco sidelines Moon’s income-led growth drive

  　Transforming South Korea’s economy into a fairer and more transparent one was what President Moon Jae-in had in mind when entering office in 2017. 　To soothe the public enraged over high-profile corruption involving the former president, his political archrival Park Geun-hye, Moon and his campaigners unveiled a series of economic policies pursuing the income-led and innovation-based growth, painting the rosy picture on mitigating the nation’s widening wealth disparity. 　Now with