Commercial banks saw the delinquency rate on loans collateralized by apartments climb to the highest level in more than six years, regulatory data showed Thursday.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the delinquent mortgage loan ratio was 0.94 percent in January, compared with 0.74 percent a month earlier and 0.69 percent a year earlier.Rising sharply to 0.94 percent, last recorded in October 2012, it marked the highest rate in 76 months since the sourced loan ratio reached 1.03 perce

March 7, 2013

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea jumped 14.8 percent in February from a year earlier, a trade association said Thursday, amid slumping sales of local cars.A total 10,556 units of foreign brand cars were sold here last month, compared with 9,196 units sold a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.The sales figure marked a stark contrast to a 12.5 percent drop in sales of domestic cars in February when the five local carmakers sold a total o

March 7, 2013

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― The gridlock surrounding deficit reduction and other fiscal issues in the United States continues to serve as a downside risk to the global economy, the finance ministry here said Thursday.The U.S. Congress and political leaders have been in a stalemate over how to resolve their deficit reduction problems. A failure to reach a compromise led to the automatic across-the-board budget cuts known in the market as a “sequester.”A failure in passing a budget this month could res

March 7, 2013

The number of female employees at domestic banks is nearly equal that of their male peers, but only a few reach high-ranking positions, according to banks and news reports. The reports said about 48.8 percent of workers at six major domestic banks were female but only 4.4 percent of bank executives were women.Even at Hana Bank, Korea Exchange Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea ― whose proportion of female employees exceeded 50 percent ― female executives were scarce, fueling concerns that gender

March 7, 2013

Samsung Electronics’ surprise decision to invest in Japanese rival Sharp will provide a win-win opportunity to both companies, analysts and industry experts said Thursday.“Samsung and Sharp have long been rivals, but Sharp has apparently determined that forming an alliance with its rival in flat-screen TVs and mobile phone handsets is required to improve its performance and financial standing,” said David Hsieh of industry market research firm NPD DisplaySearch.Samsung announced on Wednesday tha

IndustryMarch 7, 2013

Overseas direct investment by South Korean small and medium enterprises lagged far behind that of big companies in 2012 as they were reluctant to invest due to worsening profitability, a research institute said Thursday.The Korea Eximbank Overseas Economic Research Institute said local SMEs invested a combined $3.6 billion in foreign countries last year, or a mere 18.9 percent of the $19 billion overseas direct investment made by large companies. The ratio reached 58.2 percent in 2005 but it beg

March 7, 2013

SEJONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s retail sales are expected to have improved slightly in February, driven in part by increased sales at department stores and discount shops, a report showed Thursday.Sales at department stores are estimated to have risen 1.1 percent on-year in February, a turnaround from the previous month’s 8.2 percent decline, the finance ministry said in a report that assesses the latest economic conditions.Sales at discount store chains are also presumed to have jumped 10.

March 7, 2013

South Korean stocks fell 0.81 percent Thursday as investors took profits from a two-day rally in the previous sessions, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) retreated 16.34 points to finish at 2,004.40. Trading volume was moderate at 382.2 million shares worth 3.63 trillion won (US$3.35billion) with decliners far outstripping gainers 511 to 287.   "Foreigners opted to unload their holdings in top-cap Samsun

March 7, 2013

South Korean stocks traded 0.79 percent lower late Thursday morning on widening losses in shares of tech companies and shipbuilders, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid15.92 percent to 2,004.82 as of 11:20 a.m. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the country's fourth-largest shipyard, slumped more than 3 percent, with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, an affiliate of the world's No. 1 shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries, dipping 1.7 percent. Top-cap Samsung Electronics als

March 7, 2013

About 50 percent of South Korean banks' employees are women, but female senior bankers account for only some 4 percent out of local banks' total executives, pointing to the sector's still thick glass ceiling, data showed Thursday.Top lender Kookmin Bank and its other five rivals said the number of their combined employees stood at 81,234 as of end-February, out of which 48.8 percent bankers were women.But the number of women at the senior level is marginal in the Korean banking sector. In the ba

March 7, 2013