Unlike last winter, South Korea’s high vaccination rate has given people courage to step outside and participate in outdoor activities. Skiing and snowboarding remain popular choices, but this winter, people are seeking out less extreme activities such as hiking and fishing in search of serenity. “Just standing on the top of Mount Halla on Jeju Island was a breath of fresh air for me,” said Lee In-ho, a 36-year-old office worker in Seoul. Lee had been delaying the planned h

Travel Jan. 22, 2022

South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank opened a branch in Singapore, which will work as its gateway into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and global markets, the firm said Thursday. The launch of the branch came eight months after KB Kookmin was granted a license to operate a wholesale bank from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to the firm. The new branch’s key focuses are retail, corporate and investment banking and will partially deal with brokerage services. Wi

Market Jan. 20, 2022

With government restrictions on loans getting tighter and financial technology firms expanding their presence, South Korean banks are turning to their wealthiest clients and their asset management as a survival tactic this year. NongHyup Bank CEO Kwon Joon-hak pledged Monday to adopt a new model that connects customers with wealth managers through its own digital channel. He said he plans to provide professional and quality services to customers using its digital wealth management channel, in

Market Jan. 17, 2022

South Korea’s central bank on Friday raised its base rate by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent, returning it to the level before the pandemic started, with its chief hinting at additional hikes. As a result of its first rate-setting meeting of the year, the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy board delivered its third pandemic-era rate hike, following its previous 25 basis point rate hikes in August and November, respectively. The move in August ended more than a year of record-low inter

Economy Jan. 14, 2022

South Koreans born after 1990 will not be able to claim their state pension if an overhaul of the current pension system is not carried out swiftly, a Seoul-based think tank said Thursday. With the nation’s state pension age remaining relatively low compared to other major economies and the lackluster amount of money being funneled into the fund, those set to receive the pension from 2055 will likely fail in claiming their contributions, a report by the Korea Economic Research Institute s

Economy Jan. 13, 2022

For Lim Ji-soo, a 30-year-old retail investor living in Seoul, Kakao and Naver shares account for 80 percent of her spare money and most of her stock portfolio. “I wish I’d found a more appropriate timing to purchase the stocks – I didn’t know they’d fall like this,” she said Wednesday. Lim is one of the growing number of “young Korean investors” in their 20s and 30s who believe that saving monthly wages is no longer the answer to their personal

Market Jan. 12, 2022

A ruling party lawmaker recently filed a bill calling for banks to receive the financial authorities’ permission for partially shutting down their business here, the National Assembly’s online bill information system showed Tuesday. Rep. Min Byoung-dug of the Democratic Party of Korea’s move follows Citibank Korea’s decision in October last year to pull out its retail banking business in phases, after failing to reach a deal with potential buyers. Citigroup in April 2021

Market Jan. 11, 2022

A campaign pledge by ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has sent jitters through the finance sector as he vowed to hand the nation’s financial watchdog stronger legal authority to side with consumers when settling disputes with insurers. The ruling party’s presidential election campaign committee on Friday announced that Lee seeks to ban insurers from not conceding to orders from the Financial Supervisory Service to financially compensate their customers without a &ld

Market Jan. 10, 2022

Experts remain divided over whether Korea’s central bank will carry out a rate hike at its first rate-setting meeting of the year set for Friday. The upcoming monetary policy board meeting comes as the Korean economy continues to struggle with high inflationary pressure and the US Federal Reserve’s recent signal of a sooner-than-expected rate hike. A majority of experts see a rate hike coming Friday or next month, and the Bank of Korea is expected to raise its benchmark interest

Economy Jan. 9, 2022

Heads of the nation’s financial policymaker and watchdog held their first meeting of the year on Thursday and vowed to cooperate on adopting stronger preemptive measures to counter lingering pandemic risks. Financial Services Commission Chairman Koh Seung-beom and Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Jeong Eun-bo agreed to make risks tied to the nation’s household debt growth, accumulating debt of the self-employed and small business owners and the non-banking sector their top priori

Economy Jan. 6, 2022

South Korea’s state-run banks are gearing up for major overseas business expansions this year, in line with the global economy adopting measures to return to normalcy from the pandemic. Korea Development Bank, the nation’s development financial lender that provides local firms risk capital, is likely to upgrade its current office in Frankfurt, Germany, to a branch by the end of the year. KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull visited Germany in August last year to prepare for the office’

Market Jan. 5, 2022

Banks have started lending again as of Tuesday after months of temporarily suspending their household and mortgage loans, but strict standards from last year are likely to remain or get even tighter this year. NongHyup Bank, one of the five major commercial banks here, normalized lending of its entire household loan products, including mortgages on Monday. It has also decided to raise its lines of credit from the previous 20 million won ($16,700) to 100 million won. NongHyup had suspended le

Market Jan. 4, 2022

Heads of South Korea’s top five traditional banking groups on Monday pointed to swift digital transformation and bolstering competitiveness of diverse business units as the main requirements for their survival in the new year. KB Financial Group, the nation’s No. 1 banking group in terms of total assets, must become the nation’s top financial platform and provide customers with the best digital services, its Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said in his New Year’s speech. Yoon h

Market Jan. 3, 2022

The chief of the nation’s central bank said Friday that monetary easing will be broadened in tandem with the pace of the economic recovery next year. “Additional moves related to monetary easing will be carried out after closely reviewing the development of economic growth and inflation,” Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said in his New Year’s address. “Imbalances in the financial market and shifts in monetary policies of key economies will be taken into considerat

Economy Dec. 31, 2021

South Korea’s move to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership next year will work in favor of Asia’s fourth-largest economy’s trade, experts from the US and the UK said. “We believe that South Korea will succeed in joining the CPTPP in the coming years,” Fei Xue, an Asia analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Korea Herald in an email interview earlier this month. “Inclusion in that regional trade agr

Industry Dec. 30, 2021