Just a Swipe on Your Phone... Daily Usage of Simple Payment Nears 1 Trillion Won [3-Minute Brief]

① Last year's average daily simple payment usage reached 959.4 billion KRW, an all-time high
② 'Knowledge service' trade deficit reached $7.26 billion last year
③ Growing attention on MBK-owned companies... Many facing management deterioration

MARKET INDEX

○Repeated fluctuations during trading, closed slightly lower

○Existing home sales 4.26 million 'exceed expectations'

○Triple Witching Day on the 21st... $4.5 trillion options expiration

TOP 3 NEWS

■ "Forgot my wallet" no longer works... 30 million daily uses of simple payments last year

○Bank of Korea, 2024 electronic payment service usage status
○Last year daily average simple payments 959.4 billion KRW... up 9.6%
○Prepaid payments daily average 1.2 trillion KRW

■ "Smiled at K-content like Squid Game" Factors reducing last year's knowledge service trade deficit

○Exports grew, share increased & deficit narrowed... high growth potential
○Last year surpluses in Information & Communication ($2.76 billion), Culture & Leisure ($870 million)
○Korean-made phones pre-installed with overseas apps & K-content sales on overseas OTT platforms impact

■ Concerns over 'Second Homeplus'... MBK-owned companies facing consecutive management deterioration

○Many companies are experiencing management difficulties
○Nepa, Connect Wave, D'Live, etc.
○Sharp decline in performance... common burden of acquisition financing

Graphic News: "Not jealous of large corporations" Bank employees who earned 120 million KRW last year

○Based on business reports, average salary of employees at the four major banks is 118 million KRW

○Hana Bank highest... followed by KB > Shinhan > Woori

○Among the four major financial holding companies, Woori Financial Group has the highest average salary

the Chart: Despite Nvidia's slump, semiconductor one-two punch stands tall... Will it lead the stock market rebound?

○Nvidia fell 3% amid disappointment from its conference

○Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rose over 1%, showing decoupling

○"Expect index rise if semiconductors return as leading sector"

Today's Key Schedule

○Domestic

KOSDAQ Simple Platform listing, confirmed public offering price 15,000 KRW

06:00 South Korea Producer Price Index (MoM) (February)

○Overseas

08:30 Japan Core Consumer Price Index (YoY) (February)

18:00 Speech by Bundesbank's Mauderer (Germany)

21:30 Canada New Housing Price Index (MoM) (February)

◇Lunch & Commute Weather

○ Lowest temperature 6℃(▲5℃) ｜Highest temperature: 18℃(▲4℃)
○ Precipitation probability morning 0%｜afternoon 0%
○ Fine dust morning temporarily bad｜afternoon normal

OK in 3 minutes, essential time-efficient economic news. Published daily at 8 AM.