South Korea’s top financial regulator said Friday that a support program worth 2 trillion won ($1.66 billion) will be launched to cushion local businesses from economic woes stemming from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, if needed. “We will thoroughly review the extent of damages and the financial state of our exporters and importers to prevent any difficulties stemming from the Ukraine crisis,” Financial Services Commission Chairman Koh Seung-beom said at a joint

Economy Feb. 25, 2022

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday kept its benchmark interest rate anchored at the current 1.25 percent, but sharply revised its annual inflation outlook to a decade high of 3.1 percent. The Bank of Korea’s seven-day monetary policy board unanimously voted to freeze the key rate at the level it maintained since it delivered a 0.25 percentage point rate hike in January. The January decision brought back the base rate to pre-pandemic levels, before the BOK carried out a 0.5 perc

Economy Feb. 24, 2022

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has partnered up with the nation’s top university in science and technology to bolster the scientific approach toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. On Thursday, Hana said it signed a deal with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology with the goal of developing new technology based on environmental, social and governance values. The goal would be based on the institutions’ joint efforts to resolve climate change issues,

Technology Feb. 24, 2022

South Koreans aged between 19 and 34 rushed to open a state-backed savings account with a high yield of some 10 percent this week, with the product attracting nearly two million applicants as of Wednesday. The state-backed savings account launched Monday -- dubbed the Youth Hope Savings Product -- is designed specifically for those aged between 19 and 34 with an annual income of or below 36 million won ($30,100). It requires applicants to submit a monthly payment of 500,000 won for a 2-year ter

Market Feb. 23, 2022

South Korean banking groups are opening more offline asset management centers exclusively for the nation’s superrich, while closing regular branches and replacing them with mobile and artificial intelligence-based services. On Tuesday, Shinhan Financial Group said it upgraded and rebranded two of its wealth management centers in Seoul to focus on providing exclusive banking services for its clients with personal assets of over 10 billion won ($8.3 million). The wealth management centers

Market Feb. 22, 2022

South Korea’s fiscal deficit reached over 100 trillion won ($83 billion), while national debt logged a deficit of 240 trillion won, as the country was bogged down by COVID-19 woes in the past two years, data from the Finance Ministry showed Sunday. With an additional 70 trillion won in fiscal deficit and 100 trillion won of national debt projected to be added this year, based on the size of the supplementary budget currently being discussed by officials and lawmakers, onlookers are expre

Economy Feb. 20, 2022

Standard Chartered Bank Korea said Thursday it signed an environmental, social and governance-related supply chain financing deal worth a combined $180 million with local electric-vehicle battery material suppliers. The lender’s new partnership with Posco Chemical and L&F will provide the EV battery material suppliers with financing in the form of trade receivable discounting. Trade receivable discounting or TRD is a type of factoring in which a supplier provides its products to the

Market Feb. 17, 2022

South Korea’s financial regulator on Wednesday decided to suspend Jang Ha-won, the chief executive of Discovery Asset Management from his duty, and fine the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea for misselling of funds with frozen assets amounting to 256.2 billion won ($214 million). Jang is the younger brother of South Korea’s incumbent ambassador to China, Jang Ha-sung. The Financial Services Commission upheld the watchdog Financial Supervisory Service’s earlier ruling to &l

Market Feb. 16, 2022

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group marked the transfer of its headquarters from Seoul to Incheon with a groundbreaking ceremony, the firm said Wednesday. The groundbreaking ceremony for the planned 22-level building with seven underground floors was held Tuesday at Cheongna International City, which is part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone. Hana Financial and five of its affiliates –- flagship commercial bank Hana Bank, brokerage Hana Financial Investment, credit card issuer Hana

Market Feb. 16, 2022

South Korea’s financial regulator’s plan to allow nationwide post offices to work as brick-and-mortar branches for commercial banks here continues to face major hurdles as the plan has been stalled for nearly two years. On Monday, the Financial Services Commission mentioned its plans to review post offices and other similar institutions that could partner up with lenders in offering offline banking services, in its 2022 annual plan. The plan is part of its efforts to narrow the gap

Market Feb. 15, 2022

South Korea’s financial watchdog pledged Monday to announce its own monitoring measures for Big Tech firms’ financial services. As part of its annual plan for this year, the Financial Supervisory Service said it would prepare “Korean-type Big Tech monitoring measures to stimulate competition and innovation from Big Tech’s foray into the finance sector and to achieve financial stability and customer protection.” The purpose of the measures is to establish systemat

Market Feb. 14, 2022

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group announced a record annual net income of 3.5 trillion won ($2.9 billion) for 2021 last week, citing successful portfolio diversification as a driving force behind the banking group’s robust profit. Exceeding market expectations, Hana’s annual net income gained 33.7 percent on-year, driven by a noteworthy increase in earnings of its nonbanking businesses, a regulatory filing showed Thursday. Brokerage arm Hana Financial Investment’s net

Market Feb. 13, 2022

South Korea’s top four major banking groups -- KB, Shinhan, Hana and Woori -- saw their combined earnings last year hit a record high, largely buoyed by robust interest and commission income. According to their separate regulatory filings, the total net profit of the firms soared 34.5 percent on-year to 14.5 trillion ($12 billion) last year, eclipsing the previous record of 10.8 trillion won in 2020. KB Financial Group outpaced rivals in terms of net profit. Its net increased 27.6 perc

Market Feb. 11, 2022

The chief of South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Thursday that the adoption of environmental, social and governance values is gaining traction, and asked for cooperation between the Korean public and the private sector to make headway in the global race. “ESG values are growing around the world with irreversible speed,” KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said in a special luncheon talk hosted by the National Assembly. “The manufacturing sector accounts for a

Market Feb. 10, 2022

South Korea’s Hana Financial Group has nominated Vice Chairman Ham Young-joo, who led its flagship lender’s smooth operation and business rebranding after its grueling acquisition of Korea Exchange Bank seven years ago, to be the next chairman of the banking group. On Tuesday, the firm’s chairman nomination committee tapped Ham as the sole nominee for the position, citing his performance in generating profit and bolstering stability in business. Ham has also shown “extra

Market Feb. 9, 2022