Job growth extended to 4th month in June amid economic recovery

South Korea reported job additions for the fourth straight month in June, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign the job market has improved amid an economic recovery. The number of employed people reached 27.6 million last month, 582,000 more than a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The June additions were lower than an on-year increase of 619,000 the previous month. The country has reported job additions since March when 314,000 jobs were added on-year, th

July 14, 2021

Market volatility growing, but to have limited impact: vice finance minister

The government will strengthen its monitoring of financial markets as volatility increases due to a recent resurgence of COVID-19 cases here, First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said Tuesday. “As uncertainty related to virus variants persist, the possibility of increased volatility in the financial market in the future cannot be ruled out,” he said during a meeting on macroeconomic policies and financial affairs. With the quick spread of the more contagious delta variant lo

July 13, 2021

Overseas cryptocurrency exchanges using Korean currency must register with anti-money laundering body: regulator

Cryptocurrency exchanges that are based outside South Korea must register with the nation's anti-money laundering body if they use the Korean currency, a top financial regulator said Tuesday. Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo made the remarks when asked by a lawmaker whether Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, should comply with a revised law from September. If a cryptocurrency exchange serves local customers with the won-currency settlement, it must regis

July 13, 2021

Finance chief reaffirms opposition to universal COVID-19 relief cash handouts

South Korea's top economic policymaker on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to the idea of providing universal COVID-19 relief handouts to all people with another extra budget currently under review at parliament. On Monday, the heads of the ruling and main opposition parties shared the view about the need to provide cash handouts to all people with this year's second extra budget. In late June, the government proposed an extra budget of 33 trillion won ($28.9 billion) to finance the fifth rou

July 13, 2021

Money supply continues to grow in May

South Korea's money supply continued to grow in May, as loans to households and firms grew amid the COVID-19 pandemic, central bank data showed Tuesday. The country's M2 stood at 3,385 trillion won ($2.95 trillion) as of end-May, up 0.6 percent from a month earlier, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, M2 jumped 11 percent, the BOK said. A key economic indicator closely monitored by authorities, M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cas

July 13, 2021

Most bond experts eye rate freeze in July: poll

A majority of bond mavens in South Korea predict the central bank to hold its key interest steady for July amid the prolonged coronavirus fallout, a poll showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 200 bond experts by the Korea Financial Investment Association, 89 percent of the 100 respondents said the Bank of Korea (BOK) will likely freeze its policy rate at a rate-setting meeting slated for Thursday. The number of standpatters was down nine from the previous month. In contrast, 11 experts, u

July 13, 2021

DH asks regulator to extend deadline for Yogiyo sale

South Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday that Delivery Hero (DH) has asked it to extend the deadline for the sale of its food delivery affiliate here, Yogiyo, as the German company is facing difficulty in finding a potential investor. In December, the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) ordered DH to sell Yogiyo, South Korea's No. 2 food delivery app, if it wants to buy the country's top food delivery app operator, Woowa Brothers. DH has to sell Yogiyo by Aug. 3. Details on DH's request a

July 13, 2021

S. Korea expands shipping service for farms goods

South Korea said Tuesday it has agreed with HMM Co., the country's largest shipper, to provide shipping services to North America for agricultural exporters amid rising demand for cargo services that stemmed from the global economic recovery. Under the agreement, HMM will offer 265 TEUs of cargo space for agricultural and fishery products every month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, refers to the unit of the capacity of a c

July 13, 2021

S. Korea vigilant over market volatility from virus resurge: official

South Korea will closely monitor the financial market as a flare-up in COVID-19 cases and the spread of more contagious virus variants could increase market volatility, a senior government official said Tuesday. First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon said the government will beef up the monitoring of financial risks as the global economic recovery could be slowed due to the spread of the more transmissible delta variant, first identified in India. "As (economic) uncertainty, such as COV

July 13, 2021

Insurers see jump in mortgage loans

Major South Korean insurers saw their mortgage loans grow at a fast clip over the past year on rising demand, industry data showed Tuesday. Mortgage lending by top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance surged 17.2 percent on-year to 21.3 trillion won ($18.6 billion) at the end of March this year. In the first quarter of the year alone, its home-backed loans surged by more than 1 trillion won. No. 2 industry player Hanwha Life Insurance saw its mortgage loans jump 17.3 percent on-year to 4.9 tril

July 13, 2021

Large banks' social contributions above W1tr in 2020 amid pandemic

South Korean banks' social contributions exceeded 1 trillion won ($871 million) for the second straight year in 2020 amid a coronavirus-caused economic downturn, a trade association said Monday. The Korea Federation of Banks said its 22 members, including lenders and other financial institutions, spent about 1.1 trillion won on social contribution activities last year. Their social contributions topped the 1 trillion-won mark for the second consecutive year, but the amount was a tad lower than

July 12, 2021

S. Korean banks to tighten lending in Q3 amid pandemic: poll

South Korean banks are likely to tighten their grip on fresh loans in the third quarter of the year amid tougher lending rules and rising household credit risks due to the coronavirus pandemic, a central bank poll showed Monday. The Bank of Korea said its index measuring the banks' attitude toward fresh lending stood at minus 3 for the July-September period, compared with 7 for the previous quarter. The lower the reading, the more likely banks will tighten their restrictions on lending. A read

July 12, 2021

SsangYong workers go on unpaid leave in self-rescue effort

SsangYong Motor Co. said Monday its employees began to take unpaid leave in rotation as part of self-help measures. Last month, SsangYong workers agreed to the company's offer of two-year rotational unpaid leave for 4,700 employees, an extension of a cut in wages and suspended welfare benefits until June 2023. In the first year through June 2022, 50 percent of assembly line workers in the Pyeongtaek plant, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and 30 percent of office workers will take turns going on

July 12, 2021

Exports up 14.1% in first 10 days of July

South Korea's exports rose 14.1 percent on-year in the first 10 days of July on the back of robust demand for chips, autos and petroleum products, customs data showed Monday. The country's outbound shipments stood at $15.1 billion in the July 1-10 period, compared with $13.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. The country's exports are set to extend their gains to the ninth straight month in July if the current pace continues. Overseas shipments, which

July 12, 2021

Finance chief opposes increasing extra budget

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki has said it is not easy for the government to increase the size of an extra budget currently under review at parliament as politicians made the request amid the fourth wave of the pandemic. In late June, the government proposed an extra budget of 33 trillion won ($28.7 billion) to fund another round of COVID-19 aid packages for people in the bottom 80 percent income bracket and small merchants hit hard by the pandemic. But politicians raised the need to increase th

July 12, 2021

Imported EV sales jump 65% in H1 amid pandemic

Imported electric vehicle sales jumped 65 percent in the first half compared with a year earlier despite an extended COVID-19 pandemic, industry data showed Monday. From January to June, the number of imported EV registrations jumped to 14,295 units from 8,681 in the year-ago period, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association and Carisyou Data Lab. Imported EVs accounted for 54 percent of the country's overall EV sales of 26,632 units in the first six months, the

July 12, 2021

Foreigners remain net sellers of S. Korean stocks in June

Foreign investors unloaded about 500 billion won ($436 million) worth of South Korean stocks in June to remain net sellers for the second consecutive month, data showed Monday. Offshore investors' net selling of local stocks came to 499 billion won last month, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. As of end-June, foreign investors held 842.3 trillion won worth of local listed stocks, accounting for 29.9 percent of the stock market capitalization. The data also showed f

July 12, 2021

[Life, Unprepared] Baby boomers, without pension, turn to low-wage jobs

This is the third installment of a series of articles investigating financial activities of seniors during rapid digitalization of the finance industry. -- Ed. Shin Young-sam, a 59-year-old retiree, remembers days at the office working in a tie and suit -- and the glamorous dinners he hosted with clients and colleagues. Leaving his work last year, he now carries a square-shaped backpack and walks around his neighborhood in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, for his new job -- picking up lunch from r

July 11, 2021

S. Korea proposes to tax 20% of excess profits from multinationals

South Korea’s finance chief said Sunday he had proposed to set tax rates on excess profits of big multinationals at 20 percent in a discussion with his G-20 counterparts over the latest global tax reform. 　 Global financial leaders have reached a consensus on imposing taxes on companies with rates between 20 percent and 30 percent of the profit they generate in different countries beyond a 10 percent baseline. Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki pitched the lowest 20 p

July 11, 2021

S. Korean shipbuilders' orders hit 13-year high in H1

New orders won by South Korean shipbuilders hit a 13-year high in the first half of the year amid signs of a modest recovery in global trade from the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Sunday. Korean shipbuilders led by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. won new orders worth $26.7 billion that amounted to 10.88 million compensated gross tons (CGTs) in the January-June, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Compared with a year ago, new orders skyrocketed 724 per

July 11, 2021