KIC gets $200m investment quota from China

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund has received a regulated quota of $200 million to invest in China’s stock and bond markets, officials said Tuesday.Korea Investment Corp. received the investment quota from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange about three months after it was granted a license to join China’s qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) program, a source at the company said.The company will complete its preparation for trading in Chi

March 13, 2012

Private lenders’ overdue loans surpass W600b

Overdue loans at Korea’s 10 largest private lenders surpassed 600 billion won ($535 million) earlier this year, data showed Tuesday, raising concerns over its impact on household debt.The amount of overdue loans at the 10 players, including market leaders A&P Financial and Sanwa Money, reached 609.9 billion won as of January, up 52.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by industry sources and the Financial Supervisory Service.The data also showed that the default rate of the priva

March 13, 2012

Samsung Fire stays top in insurance market

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. has retained its top position in South Korea’s nonlife insurance industry for fiscal year 2011, but the gap of its market share compared with its main rival has been narrowed, sources showed Tuesday. According to industry sources, Samsung Fire’s cumulative original premium stood at 12.0 trillion won ($10.7 billion) in the April 2011-January 2012 period, accounting for 26.5 percent of the market. No. 2 player Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co.’s original premi

March 13, 2012

BOK opens Shanghai office

South Korea's central bank said Monday that it opened an office in Shanghai in a bid to better monitor the Chinese markets.The Bank of Korea said the new office in Shanghai will help it get better access to Chinese market information on a real-time basis as it has recently been granted a license to

March 12, 2012

Most outside directors at big firms to be reelected

Lack of accountability,  alleged role as lobbyists for firms put them in doubtMore than half of outside directors are set to be reelected at upcoming shareholder’s meetings for the country’s major companies, reigniting the dispute over their “neutral” position. Even new outside director positions are forecast to be filled with retirees from powerful government agencies such as the courts, tax office and prosecution, fueling concern about their roles being reduced to a conduit for lobbying betwee

March 12, 2012

BOK obtains license to invest in China

The Bank of Korea said on Monday it has been allowed to invest in China’s stock market. China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange set the investment limit at up to $300 million for Korea’s central bank on Friday, an approval process for investment in the main bourse. The BOK already obtained the license from the Chinese authorities to invest in the inter-bank bond trades, which are functioning as an over-the-counter market, in January this year. The central bank said it will begin investi

March 12, 2012

Woori Financial in dilemma over whether to adopt ‘matrix’

Woori Financial Group seems to be in a dilemma over whether to introduce the “matrix” system, which connects units such as banks and brokerages.The nation’s largest financial group, which launched a study on the fresh business concept in the second half of 2011, has already completed working-level reviews.But the group has not fixed the details or timing due to strong opposition from its flagship unit Woori Bank.“There is stern criticism from the union of the bank unit toward the introduction of

March 12, 2012

Shares sink on lingering Greece woes

Korean stocks slipped 0.78 percent Monday, as foreign investors opted to offload local shares on concerns that Greece still has a long way before coming to a resolution credible enough to stabilize the country’s debt turmoil, analysts said. The local currency lost ground against the U.S. dollar. Moving in a tight range, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index retreated 15.80 points to finish at 2,002.50.Trading volume was moderate at 362.5 million shares worth 4.54 trillion won ($ 4.05 b

March 12, 2012

Bank dividends to foreigners top W1.4tr in 2011

Korean bank holding firms’ dividend payments to foreign shareholders surpassed 1.4 trillion won ($1.25 billion) in 2011 due largely to their strong performances, data showed Monday.Four bank holding companies and two banks listed on the main bourse paid out a combined 1.44 trillion won in dividends to foreigners last year, up 7.6 percent from a year ago, according to the data by Chaebol.com, a local tracker of large conglomerates known as chaebol here.Local lenders’ record earnings last year lar

March 12, 2012

Income spent on food, rent at six-year high for poor

The portion of monthly expenditure that low-income households spend on food and housing hit a six-year high last year, Statistics Korea said. The Engels coefficient, which measure the portion of spending taken up by food and beverages, reached 20.7 percent last year, the highest level since 2005. The state-run agency also said that those in the lowest-income bracket devoted another 18.8 percent of their income to rent and mortgage payments last year.“Poor people are increasingly burdened by basi

March 12, 2012

NTS to get increased surveillance powers to combat black market

The National Tax Service is set to gain access to information about all suspicious financial transactions from a state-run financial investigative agency starting late this month, better equipping it to find cheats in the underground economy. The National Assembly in February passed a bill allowing information sharing between the NTS and Financial Intelligence Unit, an investigative arm under the Financial Services Commission, to crack down on employers who pay their workers cash under the table

March 11, 2012

Household non-consumption expenditures surge

The portion of taxes, insurance payments and financial costs against South Korean household income reached a record high last year due mainly to increased debts and social insurance contributions, data showed on Sunday.According to data compiled by Statistics Korea, South Korean households with two or more members spent a monthly average of 722,000 won ($645) on taxes, interest payments and insurance payments last year, which accounted for 18.8 percent of their monthly average income of 3.84 mil

March 11, 2012

Bourse likely to trade in tight range this week

Korean stocks are projected to move in a narrow range this week, with a global oil price hike and a weak yen to remain as wary factors that may weigh on the key index, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 0.80 percent to close at 2,018.30 last week from a week earlier, as investor sentiment was dampened by China’s lower growth target at 7.5 percent for this year. The KOSPI had dropped as much as to the 1,970 range after the private creditors in Greece were reported

March 11, 2012

Samsung Life, KB may seek alliance to buy ING unit

Samsung targets Asian markets; KB seeks growth at homeSamsung Life and KB Financial Group may seek to form a strategic alliance if ING Group’s Asia-Pacific unit goes up for sale, market observers said.Analysts have said the two financial companies are not competitors as Samsung and KB target different units ― overseas and local, respectively.ING Group’s project to sell its Asia-Pacific operations coincides with Samsung Life Insurance’s strategies for global expansion.Under the reported instructi

March 11, 2012

Lee Kun-hee’s stock value hits record high

The value of securities held by Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee has exceeded the 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) mark for the first time, setting a new record in Korea’s stock market.According to Chaebul.com on Sunday, stakes held by the nation’s richest entrepreneur came in at 10.1 trillion

March 11, 2012

Seoul shares gain on eased Greece woes

South Korean stocks closed 0.88 percent higher Friday, as Greece finally settled on its long-pending debt swap plan to restructure its troubled fiscal health, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark gained 17.54 points to finish at 2,018.30. Trading volume was moderate at 406.4 million shares worth 5.31 trillion won ($4.76 billion) with gainers outpacing decliners 442 to 349. “Since the Greece deal has made a breakthrough, there’s no particular external facto

March 9, 2012