South Korea’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor will present its new mobility road map at the annual Consumer Electronics Show 2020, the world’s largest consumer technology conference to be held in Las Vegas next month, officials said Friday.Releasing the teaser image of the human-centered mobility vision, the company envisioned the innovative mobility and consequent changes for dynamic future cities. The upcoming mobility vision comprises three key pillars, Urban Air Mobility, Purpose

Mobility Dec. 20, 2019

The ownership transition of Grand Hyatt Seoul, a landmark hotel located in central Seoul, has successfully been completed, Hyatt Hotel Corp.’s exclusive real estate selling agent Jones Lang LaSalle said Friday.Acquiring the 41-year-old, five-star hotel building was a consortium led by Hong Kong-based investment firm PAG and Seoul-based Inmark Asset Management.The duo had been picked as the preferred bidder by Hyatt Hotel Corp. in August and signed a stock purchase agreement in October. Bui

Industry Dec. 20, 2019

Facing continuing external challenges and structural problems next year, South Korea vowed to add speed to innovation and investment, determined to edge its way out of prolonged slow growth.Pinning its hopes on a global economic uptrend, progress in US-China trade tensions and recovery of the chip business, the government forecast that Asia’s fourth-largest economy will achieve 2.4 percent growth next year, while its inflation will recover to around 1 percent, despite market skepticism.&ld

Economy Dec. 19, 2019

South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte Group was excluded from supervision by financial authorities, in line with its disposal of financial subsidiaries earlier this year, the Financial Services Commission said Wednesday.With this, the number of those subject to financial supervision came to six -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Hanwha, Kyobo Life Insurance, Mirae Asset Financial Group and DB Group.“The current regulations state that financial groups with assets of 5 trillion won ($

Market Dec. 19, 2019

South Korea’s credit default risk fell below its 10-year low, following trade talk progress between the US and China and the latest result of the British election, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Wednesday.The country’s credit default swap premium for foreign exchange stabilization bonds with a five-year maturity stood at 22.2 basis points as of Tuesday, marking the lowest since the 22.1 basis points observed on Oct. 15, 2007.While the United States and Japan respectively sa

Economy Dec. 19, 2019

Hyundai Card, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, has jointly launched an exclusive credit card with flag carrier Korean Air, officials said Tuesday.“Korean Air and Hyundai Card have launched a private label credit card (PLCC) and signed a partnership agreement. Hyundai Card will be in charge of marketing and operations,” the credit card firm said.PLCC refers to a credit card branded for a specific retailer, independent dealer or manufacturer. While partnership cards involve the com

Market Dec. 17, 2019

Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo on Tuesday said that Korea will continue to face domestic and external uncertainties next year, pledging to add speed to the country’s drive for financial innovation.He also stood by the government’s latest and controversial real estate regulations, citing them as necessary steps to curb the country’s overheated housing market. “Domestic and external uncertainties are expected to prolong throughout next year and the low

Economy Dec. 17, 2019

In a surprise move on Monday, the South Korean government announced unprecedented real estate regulations to offset previous ones that have failed to curb rising housing prices.But as the newly introduced measures largely focus on loan restrictions, skepticism also mounted that the wealthy will continue their speculative buying in cash.The latest measures include a ban on mortgage loans for apartments priced 1.5 billion won ($1.28 million) or more, effective Wednesday. The real estate tax rate f

Economy Dec. 16, 2019

JB Financial Group has acquired a Vietnam-based brokerage owned by Morgan Stanley, in line with its recent moves to expand business in the Southeast Asian region, officials said Monday.The holding group of North Jeolla Province-based JB Jeonbuk Bank thereby became the first provincial banking group here to own a comprehensive overseas financial network comprising banking, capital and securities.A public announcement was made Monday that JB Financial had recently signed a sales and purchase agree

Market Dec. 16, 2019

Following signs of a thaw in US-China trade tension, speculation is building that South Korea may slow its pace of monetary easing, in step with the growing possibility of a global economic upturn.Though the world’s top two economies face a bumpy road ahead, their latest reconciliatory move is expected to ease uncertainties -- especially for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is highly dependent on trade.After Washington and Beijing announced their phase one agreement Friday to red

Economy Dec. 15, 2019

Chubb Group, the world’s largest property insurer based in the US, has named Albert Kim as the new chief executive officer of Chubb Life Korea, its life insurer subsidiary operating here, officials said Thursday.Throughout his 25-year career, Kim has worked in various global insurers including AIG, Allianz and AXA. Until recently, he served as vice president in charge of sales and management at AIG Korea.“We are glad to announce that Albert Kim will henceforth lead Chubb Life Korea,

Market Dec. 12, 2019

Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae has won an international prize for humanistic management, becoming the first winner of the newly established award, the company said Thursday.The International Council for Small Business, the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization devoted to small and medium enterprises, has selected the South Korean insurer chief as winner of its Humane Entrepreneurship Award.The awards ceremony took place on the sidelines of the SME World Forum 2019

Market Dec. 12, 2019

South Korea saw its major job indexes improve in November, with the employment rate hitting an all-time high and the number of newly created jobs remaining steady, government data showed Wednesday.The downtrend in employment continued, however, for those in their 40s, reflecting the sluggish market situation in the retail and manufacturing sectors.The number of newly added jobs last month stood at 27.5 million, up 331,000 from a year earlier, keeping the on-year increase above the 300,000 mark f

Economy Dec. 11, 2019

South Korea’s key listed companies are likely to emerge gradually from their longtime slump, with the majority expected to see a rebound in their business performance as early as this quarter, data showed Tuesday.According to financial market tracker FN Guide, the aggregated operating profit of 217 key listed companies for the fourth quarter came to 27.87 trillion won ($23.36 billion) as of Monday.This was down only 0.3 percentage point from the actual operating profit for the fourth quart

Industry Dec. 10, 2019

The average market price of Seoul apartments has soared 40 percent in the past 2 1/2 years, notwithstanding the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration’s series of price-curbing measures, data showed Tuesday.According to a survey conducted by housing information provider Real Estate 114 on 241,621 apartments, the average sale price of Seoul apartments stood at 823.76 million won ($690,263) as of last week, up 40.8 percent from 585.24 million in the first half of 2017.It was in May that year t

Economy Dec. 10, 2019