Yoo Myung-soon, incumbent interim chief executive officer of Citibank Korea, was officially tapped to lead the bank as the first female chief to lead the US lender’s local unit, officials said Tuesday. The South Korean subsidiary of the New York-based bank held a general meeting of stockholders and the board of directors early in the morning to approve and confirm Yoo’s appointment. Yoo, who previously served as the bank’s senior executive vice president, was

Market Oct. 27, 2020

Amid a prolonged economic contraction and shrinking employment rate, South Koreans in their 20s have increasingly become debt-ridden, depending on bank overdrafts and credit card loans, data showed.  The outstanding balance of bank overdrafts and card loans extended to 20-somethings totaled 2.14 trillion won ($1.91 billion) as of end-June, up sharply from 1.97 trillion won and 2.07 trillion in 2018 and 2019, respectively, said Rep. Jeon Jae-su of the ruling Democratic Party, quoting data

Economy Oct. 26, 2020

NH NongHyup Bank said Monday it has launched its branch office in Yangon, the largest city of Myanmar to expand its presence in the Southeast Asian country.  The establishment of Yangon-based branch came after the lender had obtained final approval from the country’s central bank in late June. It is the second regional office branch, followed after NongHyup Finance Myanmar, a microfinancing institution that has been in operation since 2016. The Yangon office will set a foothold for

Market Oct. 26, 2020

The government is slated to unveil a set of additional real estate policies as early as this week, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and related agencies on Sunday. The goal is to ease a supply shortage of “jeonse” apartments sparked by recently introduced tenant protection laws.  Jeonse is a housing lease system unique to Korea whereby tenants pay a lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent on a two-year contract. The planned measure, the 24th of its kind, will

Market Oct. 25, 2020

Shinhan Financial Group said Thursday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnamese subsidiary of Singapore-based ride-hailing giant Grab to jointly develop new digital financial services.  Under the agreement, Shinhan’s startup accelerator unit, Shinhan Future’s Lab Vietnam, and Grab will join hands to nurture budding local enterprises developing new services ranging from fintech to real estate and will work together to build a startup-friendly ecosyst

Market Oct. 22, 2020

South Koreans who rent their homes are less likely to get married and have children than those who own their own homes, a private think tank said Wednesday. When people who paid monthly rent were compared with homeowners, the former were 65 percent less likely to tie the knot than the latter, according to the Korea Economic Research Institute, which is under the country’s top business lobby, the Federation of Korean Industries. For people who have “jeonse” apartment leases, t

Market Oct. 21, 2020

   Women in leadership positions are still rare at South Korea’s state-run financial institutions, despite the government’s policy drive to empower female workers at the public offices, data showed Tuesday.  As of 2019, eight out of nine public financial bodies in the country were found to have zero women at the executive level, with the exception being the Korea Asset Management Corp., in which two women are holding senior management roles, said Rep. Bae Jin-gyo of

Economy Oct. 20, 2020

Nearly a half of local lenders’ borrowers have received the top credit rating as their ability to repay interest improved under the ultra-low interest rate environment, data showed Monday. As of end-September, 3.11 million, or 48 percent of the 6.46 million individual customers who borrowed money on credit were found to have received top score of the 10-level credit assessment system, according to Rep. Yoon Du-hyeon, citing data from credit rating firm NICE Credit Information Service.&nbs

Market Oct. 19, 2020

South Korea shed nearly 400,000 jobs last month as a resurgence of coronavirus cases weighed on the labor market recovery, data showed Friday.  The number of employed people in Asia’s fourth-largest economy stood at 27.01 million as of end-September, down 392,000 from a year earlier, according to the monthly employment data compiled by Statistics Korea. This latest on-year decline was the sharpest in four months, continuing the downward trend for a seventh consecutive month since Ma

Economy Oct. 16, 2020

More than a half of credit card loan users in South Korea pay debts with cash withdrawn from multiple financial institutions, data showed Monday, indicating that both credit card issuers and commercial banks are facing a growing default risk. About 56 percent of the country’s 2.6 million holders of credit card loans were found to have received loans from more than three financial service companies, including credit card issuers and banks, between January and June, said Rep. Jeon Jae-su fr

Market Oct. 14, 2020

The nation’s top financial regulator hinted Monday at the possibility of tightening loan regulations to curb snowballing household debts induced by the pandemic.  The country’s household debts surged to a record 1.63 quadrillion won in the second quarter.  “The government’s financial stimulus programs targeting small merchants as well as loan repayment moratoriums to counter the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak partly drove up household debts,”

Economy Oct. 12, 2020

The number of fitness centers in South Korea has soared in recent years, reflecting the rising demand for fitness and leisure activities in the midst of the work-life balance culture triggered by the government’s 52-hour workweek cap, an industry report showed Sunday. According to KB Financial Group’s report on self-employed workers here, nearly 9,900 fitness centers are in operation nationwide as of July, increasing 53 percent during the last 10 years. Of them, 1,109 opened last

Market Oct. 11, 2020

South Korean full-time employees' average annual income reached $42,300 last year, placing the country 19th among 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, data showed Sunday.  The figure was the highest ever for the nation’s fourth-largest economy. Korea’s next-highest average annual income was in 2003, when it posted $32,100 and ranked 24th, said Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party, citing the OECD data.  The average ann

Economy Oct. 11, 2020

Yoo Myung-soon, interim chief executive officer of Citibank Korea, was recommended as the sole candidate for the bank‘s top post, paving the way for her to become the first female CEO of the local branch of the US lender. The appointment recommendation committee under the South Korean subsidiary of the New York-based bank is set to confirm the appointment of Yoo during a general meeting of stockholders and board of directors slated to be held on Oct. 27. Yoo, the bank‘s senior ex

Market Oct. 7, 2020

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives, the nation’s leading mutual financial institution, held an annual exchange program with its counterpart in Thailand to introduce the group’s ongoing projects and management tips, officials said Wednesday.  Arranged as one-day videoconference in line with the government’s strict quarantine measures against the COVID-19 resurgence, the training event provided a series of online lectures on KFCC‘s fund managemen

Market Oct. 7, 2020