Prosecutors raid financial holding company over stock manipulation

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided the headquarters of a bank holding firm based in the country's second largest city of Busan over allegations of stock price manipulation, prosecution officials said.Officials at the Busan District Prosecutors' Office said its investigators have confiscated documents from BNK Financial Group and its affiliates Busan Bank Co., BNK Securities Co. and BNK Capital Co., as well as the offices of their top executives.Busan Bank headquarters in Busan. (Yonhap file photo)The

March 7, 2017

KEB Hana: Fake foreign currencies worth over $130,000 detected last year

KEB Hana Bank, a major South Korean lender, said Tuesday that it detected $134,000 in fake currencies last year.Stacks of foreign currency notes. (Yonhap)The value of the counterfeit bills accounted for 86 percent of the country's overall fake foreign currencies identified by banks in 2016, according to the lender,The bank said the fake notes were in US dollars, Chinese yuan and euros. (Yonhap)

March 7, 2017

Korea to run pilot service for credit card-based authentication

South Korea will run a pilot service utilizing the short-range wireless technology used in credit cards for personal authentication and mobile payments, the country's telecommunication watchdog said Tuesday.Under the program managed by the Korea Communications Commission and set to begin later this month, the new service grants Internet users the ability to verify their personal information using Near Field Communication-tagged credit cards.A user demonstrates Samsung Electronics Co.'s Samsung P

March 7, 2017

ABS issuance dips 27% in 2016 on weak property market

The issuance of asset-backed securities in South Korea tumbled nearly 27 percent in 2016 from a year earlier as the local property market remained sluggish, data showed Tuesday.The amount of ABS issues totaled 60.7 trillion won ($52.6 billion) last year, down 26.8 percent from the previo year, according to data by the Korea Capital Market Institute. (Yonhap)ABS are derived from underlying assets, such as auto loans, home loans, credit card receivables and student loans.The plunge came as the sta

March 7, 2017

Lim named as new Shinhan Card CEO

Shinhan Financial Group said its subsidiary management committee has named Lim Young-jin, vice president of the financial group, as the new CEO of Shinhan Card.New CEO of Shinhan Card Lim Young-jin (Yonhap)Lim’s term will be two years, the company said.Lim, who has been in charge of the financial group’s strategy in creating synergy between subsidiaries, was regarded as a person who would be able to find solutions to respond to digital finance, such as financial technology, with a deep understan

March 6, 2017

Public firms to write off some soured loans extended to individuals

South Korea's public financial service firms will aggressively write off nonperforming loans extended to low-income people in a bid to facilitate their debt rescheduling, a public agency said Monday.The decision came at a meeting of the nation's regulators and the heads of such organizations as Korea Housing Finance Corp. and Korea Asset Management Corp.  South Korea's financial regulators meet with the head of the nation's public financial firms in Seoul on March 6, 2017. (Yonhap)KHFC, KAMCO an

March 6, 2017

BOK chief says Korea should brace for possible US rate hike

The head of South Korea's central bank said Monday that Seoul should brace for a possible rate hike this month in the United States.Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol called on officials to come up with countermeasures over a rate hike, noting the US Federal Reserve could quicken the pace of monetary policy normalization. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol (Yonhap)His comments came days after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said an improving job market and rising inflation could prompt the US central

March 6, 2017

Mirae Asset Daewoo seeks to acquire Vodafone’s office in Germany

Mirae Asset Daewoo, South Korea’s largest brokerage by assets, said it is seeking to acquire Vodafone Germany’s office complex in Dusseldorf for 350 billion won ($303 million).The securities firm said it was recently named as the sole preffered bidder for the acquisition of the office building in the city in western Germany. It is the Korean company’s first overseas investment since Mirae Asset Securities acquired KDB Daewoo Securities in early 2016.The office complex, named Vodafone Campus, inc

March 6, 2017

Credit card issuers' net profits drop 10% on increased cost

year on a sharp increase in marketing cost and loan loss expenses, data showed Monday.Eight standalone credit card firms here posted a total of 1.81 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in net profit, down 9.9 percent from 2015, according to the country's state financial watchdog. Credit cards sit one atop another in this file photo. (Yonhap)"Merchant fee income and card loan interest revenues rose compared with the previo year. However, provisions against soured assets and marketing expenses increased b

March 6, 2017

Korea, Indonesia agree to extend currency swap deal

South Korea and Indonesia have agreed to extend a currency swap deal for another three years as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral financial cooperation, the finance ministry here said Monday.The new 11 trillion won ($9.54 billion) deal went into effect earlier in the day and expires in 2020, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Hands holding bank notes (Yonhap)The ministry said the currency agreement is to promote bilateral trade and bolster financial cooperation between the

March 6, 2017

Online sales in Korea rise in Jan.

Online sales in South Korea continued an upbeat mode in January but the pace slowed down to some extent amid faltering consumer sentiment, government data showed Monday.Total online transactions reached 6.02 trillion won ($5.22 billion) in the first month of 2017, up 14.6 percent from 5.25 trillion won tallied a year earlier, according to the data by Statistics Korea. Online sales app Coupang (Yonhap)The monthly amount marked the third highest, following 6.25 trillion won set in December last ye

March 6, 2017

Corporate loans fall slightly in Q4

Loans extended to local businesses fell slightly in the fourth quarter from a quarter earlier on decreased operating expenses, central bank data showed Monday.Outstanding corporate loans came to 985.5 trillion won ($853 billion) in the October-December period, down 0.1 percent from a quarter earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea. Various loans provided by a bank in Korea (Yonhap)Still, year-on-year, the fourth quarter figure marked a 4.5 percent gain.By purpose, loans extended for co

March 6, 2017

Korean govt. tightens monitoring of economy, financial market

The South Korean government said Monday that it will monitor the local financial market and the economy around the clock in order to reduce any possible fallout from North Korea's latest missile launch.The unidentified projectiles were launched from an area near the North's Dongchang-ri long-range missile site at 7:36 a.m. and flew about 1,000 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea, according to the military. North Korea's latest missile launch (Yonhap)Economy and finance-related governme

March 6, 2017

Key retailer stocks suffer extended losses amid THAAD row

Stocks of major retailers and their affiliates with business ties to China continued to plunge Monday, as Beijing has intensified its measures against South Korea in what appears to be retaliation for the deployment of an advanced US anti-missile battery. Lotte Shopping Co., a key unit of retail giant Lotte Group, finished down 0.47 percent to 211,000 won ($182) on the main KOSPI index, extending its losing streak for a fifth consecutive session. It has plummeted 9.7 percent since Feb. 27.  Lott

March 6, 2017

Elderly people borrow more from savings banks, private lenders

The elderly in South Korea are increasingly turning to savings banks or smaller private lenders despite relatively high interest rates, data showed Monday.Outstanding loans extended by local savings banks to people aged 60 or older totaled 218.2 billion won ($188 million) at the end of last year, up 41.32 percent from a year earlier, according to Rep. Min Byung-doo of the Democratic Party. A borrower at a South Korean savings bank. (Yonhap)It marks almost a four-fold increase from 59 billion won

March 6, 2017

Korean banks' net income falls 32% on corporate restructuring

South Korean banks reported a sharp drop in their net income last year, hit by massive loan loss spending to handle troubles in the shipbuilding industry, data showed Monday.Their combined net profits came to 3 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in the year, down 31.8 percent from 2015, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.A bank worker taking care of a customer. (Yonhap)Specialized banks, including such state policy lenders as the Korea Development Bank  and the Export-Import Bank of Korea,

March 6, 2017

Korea's FX reserves down in February

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves fell slightly in February from a month earlier due to a decrease in the value of non-dollar currencies when converted into the dollar, central bank data showed Monday.As of the end of February, the country's foreign exchange reserves came to $373.91 billion, down $130 million from the previous month, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. Dollar notes at KEB Hana Bank (Yonhap)Foreign exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overs

March 6, 2017

Finance chief says US rate hike hopes mirrored in market

South Korea's financial market has already factored in expectations for US interest rate hikes this year, the finance minister said Friday, indicating it is well-positioned to withstand their impact.After boosting its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 0.75 percent in December, the US Fed forecast it could raise the federal funds target rate three times in 2017, instead of the two quarter-point increases previously projected.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho attends a ceremony to mark Taxpay

March 3, 2017

BOK chief calls for risk management in digital financial innovation

The head of South Korea's central bank asked heads of major banks on Friday to strengthen efforts to reduce possible risks in embracing innovation in digital finance.Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said innovation in digital finance could offer various benefits, but it could also pose risks to the financial industry.South Korean banks "should pay attention to risk management as they develop a new business territory for digital technologies,"Lee said in a meeting with heads of major banks in Seoul

March 3, 2017

Foreigners picky about S. Korean stock choice

Foreign investors remain picky about what they buy in South Korea's stock market amid their strong presence here, data showed Friday.Foreigners owned more than 500 trillion won ($434 billion) worth of local shares as of January, 32 percent of the total market capitalization of all companies listed on the nation's bourse.But their possession is concentrated in a small bucket of shares. (Yonhap)Among a total of 2,249 companies listed on the local stock market, only 466, or 20.7 percent, boasted 10

March 3, 2017