Banks' loan delinquency rate edges up in Jan.

The delinquency rate of domestic banks' won-denominated loans edged up in January from a month earlier, South Korea's financial watchdog said Monday.The delinquency rate for bank loans came to 0.53 percent in January, up from 0.47 percent in December, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. (Yonhap)The rate stood at 0.81 percent in October and 0.64 percent in November.The delinquency rate of loans extended to large firms stood at 0.71 percent in January, down 0.06 percentage point from a

Feb. 27, 2017

Internet banking users up in 2016

South Korea's Internet banking service rose at a fast clip in 2016 with the number of daily transactions and its value reaching record highs, central bank data showed Monday.The number of Internet and mobile banking service users came to 122.54 million in 2016, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The number is the sum of all registered users of 16 Internet and mobile banking service providers in South Korea, including commercial banks.The ave

Feb. 27, 2017

SK Group benefits from M&As by holding firm SK Holdings

SK Group, South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, has largely benefited from mergers and acquisitions pushed by the group's holding firm, SK Holdings Co., in the chipmaking and biotech sectors, industry sources said Monday.SK Materials Co., a semiconductor materials company taken over by SK Holdings, reported record-high earnings last year to serve as the crown jewel of the group, they said. (Yonhap)SK Materials said it reported 461.4 billion won ($407.2 million) in sales and 154.1 billion won in oper

Feb. 27, 2017

Banks' daily FX turnover down 0.1% in 2016

The daily foreign exchange turnover by local and foreign banks in South Korea dropped 0.1 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, the central bank said Monday.The daily FX turnover averaged $48.38 billion in 2016, down from $48.43 billion in 2015, according to the Bank of Korea.(Yonhap)The daily trading volume of foreign exchange spots reached $19.43 billion in 2016, down 2.7 percent from a year earlier.By currency type, the daily dollar-won trading volume came to $14.52 billion in 2016 while the d

Feb. 27, 2017

Korean stocks are world’s most undervalued: study

Korean stocks are the most undervalued in the world, being cheaper than not only those in advanced countries but also emerging economy shares, according to local experts Sunday.According to data from Samsung Securities and local reports, the previous 12-month price-earnings ratio in the domestic stock market was 9.6-to-1, much lower than the averages of the MSCI’s emerging and advanced market indexes.  (123RF)The price-earnings ratio is the ratio for valuing a company by measuring its current sh

Feb. 26, 2017

Individuals only loser in Korean stock market

Individual investors failed to enjoy profits despite the latest surge of the main bourse index, data showed Sunday, while foreigners and institutions raked in profits.According to the data compiled by market tracker FnGuide, the top 10 stocks purchased by retail investors have fallen 4.32 percent on average this year. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index hovered above the 2,100 mark for the first time in 19 months Tuesday, reflecting the robust performance of the main bourse. (Yonhap)

Feb. 26, 2017

FSS seeks business suspension on three insurers over suicide benefits

South Korea’s financial regulator said it would seek unprecedentedly strong punitive measures against three major insurers for their failure to pay out benefits for suicide claims. (123rf)The Financial Supervisory Service said late Thursday night that it has decided to ask for suspensions against three life insurers – Samsung Life Insurance, Hanwha Life Insurance and Kyobo Life Insurance. The suspensions, subject to review by the Financial Services Commission, will ban the insurers from selling

Feb. 24, 2017

SK executives given stock options

Top executives of SK Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate, have been granted stock options, the business group said Friday, a move seen as part of efforts to reinforce its corporate responsibility.Park Sung-wook, the vice president and chief executive of chipmaker SK hynix Inc., one of the group's key units, received the rights to buy a total of 298,800 shares, the company said in a statement. That is worth some 15 billion won ($13.2 million) based on the company's closing price on Th

Feb. 24, 2017

KB Financial Group to add foreign outside director

KB Financial Group said its outside director recommendation committee has recommended Stuart Solomon, former chairman of MetLife Insurance Co. of Korea, to become the financial group’s outside director.Solomon first came to Korea in 1971 for voluntary work and built his career in the banking and insurance industry. He joined MetLife in 1995 and retired from his chairman post in December 2011. Stuart Solomon, former chairman of MetLife Insurance Co. of Korea“We considered that he can represent fo

Feb. 24, 2017

Korea contributes $80m to five int'l financial organizations in 2016

South Korea provided a combined $80 million to 13 trust funds created by five international financial organizations last year as part of its efforts to expand its presence on the world stage, the financial ministry here said Friday.The organizations, including the World Bank, the Inter-America Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, carried out 108 projects worth $68.85 million based on South Korea's contributions, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. (Yonhap)South Korea c

Feb. 24, 2017

Regulator urges insurers to reflect auto tech advance in premium

South Korea's top financial regulator called on the local insurance industry Friday to take the rapid technology development related to self-driving cars into account in setting premiums.Yim Jong-yong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, cited a looming paradigm shift in the financial sector in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Yim Jong-yong, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, speaks at a meeting on the fourth industrial revolution in Seoul on Feb. 24, 2017, in

Feb. 24, 2017

[Newsmaker] Current FKI chairman Huh to stay in office

Huh Chang-soo, the current chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, will stay in office for another three years as finding a new chief for the country's largest lobby body has made little progress with key members withdrawing their membership, industry sources said Friday.FKI board members will recommend Huh continue his duties for another three years at a board meeting to be held later in the day, according to the sources.The FKI board meeting came amid a mass withdrawal of key FKI memb

Feb. 24, 2017

Regulator mulls deregulation for big IBs' property investment

South Korea's financial authorities plan to ease restrictions on real estate investment by leading local investment banks in a bid to help them raise global competitiveness, officials said Friday.The government is pushing to foster homegrown, mega-sized IBs modeled after Goldman Sachs. It has decided to revise legislation within this year to allow them to expand their businesses beyond brokerage services. An image of capital investment provided from Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)Under a proposed bill,

Feb. 24, 2017

Financial watchdog slaps fines for 63 disclosure violations

South Korea's state financial watchdog said Thursday it has taken punitive steps against listed firms here for a total of 185 violations related to disclosure-related rules last year.It marks a sharp increase from 126 cases discovered in 2015 and 63 a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The logo of the Financial Supervisory Service (Yonhap)The FSS added it has imposed 2.2 billion won ($1.9 million) in fines in connection with 63 cases in 2016.Other administrative measur

Feb. 23, 2017

Fromageot named head of AXA Direct Korea

AXA Direct Korea has named Gilles Fromageot, chief financial officer of AXA Global Direct, as its new CEO, the company said Thursday.The French executive will take office on April 1 after the board’s approval, while outgoing CEO Francois Lecomte will return to his home country Belgium to serve as head of retail at AXA Belgium. Gilles Fromageot (AXA Direct Korea)Prior to his post of CFO at AXA Global Direct, Fromageot served as CFO and corporate secretary of AXA Direct Korea from 2012 to 2015. Bo

Feb. 23, 2017

Central bank stands pat as uncertainties build

South Korea’s central bank took a wait-and-see approach in its key rate decision Thursday, amid mixed signals from local indicators and growing uncertainty over the US economy.The seven members of the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee left its key rate at a record low of 1.25 percent, an eighth consecutive rate freeze since it lowered the rate by 0.25 percentage point in June last year. It was a unanimous decision.BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol did not give any clear signal on the bank’s next move

Feb. 23, 2017

Foreigners' card spending in Korea jumps 32% in 2016

Credit card spending by foreign visitors to South Korea jumped more than 30 percent from a year earlier last year, helped by a sharp increase in spending by Chinese visitors, a report showed Thursday.Credit card purchases by non-residents came to 13.7 trillion won ($12 billion) in 2016, up 32 percent from the previous year, according to the report from the Korea Culture & Tourism Institute.(Yonhap)Credit card spending by Chinese visitors came to 8.3 trillion won, accounting for 60.6 percent of t

Feb. 23, 2017

Think tank calls for return to mandatory bid rule

Control premiums that firms pay to acquire listed companies cause losses for minority shareholders and only benefit the controlling stakeholders of the acquired firms, a research report said Wednesday.To protect minority shareholders, South Korea should revive the mandatory bid rule, the report by the Economic Reform Research Institute said. The mandatory bid rule obligates a company obtaining a controlling stake to extend the offer to all shareholders equally. Critics claim the rule prevents va

Feb. 22, 2017

HSBC appoints Jung as Korean unit head

London-based UK bank HSBC said it has appointed HSBC Korea’s global banking head Jung Eun-young as CEO of the Korean unit.He will officially take office on April 3 after a regulatory approval, the bank said, and replace outgoing CEO Martin Tricaud, who will serve as CEO of HSBC Australia. Jung Eun-young (HSBC Korea)Jung, the first Korean CEO of HSBC Korea, will focus on supporting Korean companies to be globally competitive and foreign firms to be successful in the country, the bank said. He joi

Feb. 22, 2017

Korea's short-term debt up 0.8% in 2016

South Korea's short-term foreign debt rose 0.8 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday.The country's short-term external debt, with a maturity of one year or less, totaled $105.2 billion as of the end of 2016, up $800 million from the end of 2015, according to the data by the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The figure accounted for 27.6 percent of the country's total external debt, up 1.3 percentage point from the end of 2015, the data showed.The nation's total external li

Feb. 22, 2017