Efforts to improve financial infrastructure, credit rating approach

This is the eighth in a monthly series contributed by executive members of the Financial Supervisory Service to address key ongoing financial issues. ― Ed. Kim Yoo-mi, senior director general of the IT & Financial Information Protection department at the Financial Supervisory ServiceThe purpose of a credit rating system is to investigate and analyze factors that impact consumers’ credit status and make a decision on the supply of credit services. Finance is often said to be the blood vessels of

Jan. 26, 2016

Seoul shares open bearish on weak corporate earnings

South Korean share prices opened lower on Tuesday on faltering fourth-quarter earnings posted by some of the nation’s top companies.  Share prices are displayed at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, southwestern Seoul. (Yonhap)The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened lower at 1881.87, and lost 12.58 points, or 0.66 percent, during the first 15 minutes of trading.The index was trading more than 1 percent lower at 1869.41 as of 10:07 a.m. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics declined 0

Jan. 26, 2016

Top 10 biz group see stock value plunge

The market value of South Korea’s top 10 business groups plunged this year, mostly on account of increased overseas volatility, data showed Tuesday. An office worker watches the share price of Samsung Electronics displayed on an electronic board. (Yonhap)The combined market capitalization of the listed affiliates of these firms stood at 721.99 trillion won ($602.6 billion) as of Monday, down nearly 5 percent from the end of 2015, according to the Korea Exchange.The decline compares to the 3.5 pe

Jan. 26, 2016

Celltrion heralds new era for Korean pharmaceuticals

This is the first in a series of articles analyzing the top 10 companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ stock market. ― Ed. Celltrion’s biosimilar drug Remsima, based on Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co.’s anti-inflammatory biologic drug Remicade. (Celltrion)Hot stocks on KOSDAQ, the Korean equivalent of the U.S.’ Nasdaq, often hold hints of where the future lies for Korea Inc.Back in 1996, when the bourse first opened as the market for innovative tech firms, the compan

Jan. 25, 2016

Seoul shares open higher on oil price recovery

South Korean share prices opened higher on Monday after oil prices recovered from last week’s multiyear lows.  Traders monitor share prices on screens at a local bank. (Yonhap)A rebound on Wall Street also boosted investor sentiment, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.13 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,886.56 in the first 15 minutes of trading.The index was trading at 1894.61, up 0.81 percent, as of 10:13 a.m. On Friday, oil prices rebounded from 13-year lows on

Jan. 25, 2016

Equity crowdfunding poised for takeoff

Crowdfunding, a global fad of people clubbing together to fund projects of all kinds, will reach new heights in Korea, when the country opens the door for start-ups to issue shares through the fledging capital-raising method.Dubbed equity crowdfunding, as it offers investors an equity stake in return for cash investment rather than rewards, products or interest payments, the new scheme goes into effect Monday, with the effectuation of a related law. Hopes are high that it would channel much-need

Jan. 24, 2016

Kosdaq expects 154 IPOs in 2016

KOSDAQ expects another boom year for initial public offerings in 2016, with over 150 companies preparing to float their shares on the country‘s secondary stock market, the bourse’s operator said Friday.“We expect 154 IPOs this year,” Kim Jae-joon, chairman of Korea Exchange’s KOSDAQ market committee, told a press conference in Seoul. KOSDAQ is also working to attract Samsung Biologics, a unit of Samsung Group said to be preparing for an IPO in the first half of this year on the U.S.’ Nasdaq or e

Jan. 22, 2016

Seoul seeks to bolster loans for mid-credit borrowers 　

Korea is moving to encourage local banks to lend more to mid-credit borrowers, a segment typically underserved in Korea’s retail loan market, polarized between cheap, but hard-to-get, bank loans and expensive nonbank loans. According to industry sources and multiple local reports, the Financial Services Commission is currently devising measures to bolster retail banks’ middle-market lending, with its sights set on borrowers with credit scores just below levels that would qualify them for a bank

Jan. 22, 2016

Standard Chartered Korea puts wealth at center of vision

Standard Chartered Bank Korea plans to invest 10 billion won ($8.24 million) in its wealth management, aiming to double the size of operations over the next five years, a top company executive said Thursday.“We have set a target of 100 percent growth in the number of clients, revenue and assets under management at our wealth business by 2020,” Chang Ho-june, head of wealth management at SC Bank Korea, said at a press conference in Seoul. The London-based bank has about 5 trillion won of assets u

Jan. 21, 2016

Korea needs to expand currency swap deals

Policymakers in the government and the central bank have refuted an argument by a local research institute that the country’s foreign exchange reserves are far from enough to cope with another bout of global financial crisis.A report released by the Korea Economic Research Institute this week suggested Korea needs nearly $80 billion more in forex reserves to guard itself against a possible global emergency. The suggestion cast a shadow on what has been perceived as a robust aspect of the country

Jan. 21, 2016

Shinhan Financial ranks 18th in global sustainable company list

Shinhan Financial Group came in at 18th place on a list of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies, announced Wednesday at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Seoul-based group said Thursday. It is the highest ranking that a Korean company has ever reached on the list, which is known as the Global 100 and compiled annually by Canada-based Corporate Knights since 2005. German carmaker BMW topped this year’s list. Aside from Shinhan, three other Korean companies made it

Jan. 21, 2016

KRX eyes 30-minute extension of trading hours

Korea’s bourse operator said Thursday that it will seek to extend the regular trading hours by 30 minutes to go in tandem with a global trend and increase its overlap with other markets in the region.  Headquarters of KRX in Yeouido, central Seoul“Currently, the Korean market runs for six hours from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., which is 2-3 hours shorter than global peers,” said Choi Kyung-soo, chairman and CEO of Korea Exchange, in a press conference in Seoul. “I will strive for a 30-minute extension t

Jan. 21, 2016

China stocks rise after PBOC takes measures to ease cash squeeze

China’s stocks rose for the third time in four days, led by small-company shares, after the central bank injected the most cash in almost three years in its open-market operations to ease a cash squeeze.The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.5 percent at the break, erasing a loss of as much as 1.6 percent. The ChiNext index of small caps advanced 1.5 percent, while gauges of health-care and technology shares posted the biggest gains among industry groups. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises

Jan. 21, 2016

Global stocks battered as oil pushes below $27

 NEW YORK - Global stocks suffered another rout Wednesday as US oil prices slid to fresh 12-year lows, heaping further pressure on financial markets from London and Paris to Moscow and Manhattan.Asia's main stock indices fell more than three percent, as did a number of indices in Europe -- wiping out the previous day's rally spurred by hopes of Chinese stimulus.With a loss of 3.5 percent, London joined a number of other markets in bear territory -- a fall of more than 20 percent from a recent pe

Jan. 21, 2016