South Korea’s finance minister on Wednesday lauded the success of property laws that took effect in July last year, saying they were able to increase lease contract renewals and protect tenants, despite growing criticisms of its side effects. “The average annual lease contract renewal rate of 100 apartment complexes in Seoul stood at 57.2 percent before the bills took effect, but the bills pushed it up to 77.7 percent,” Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki s

Economy July 21, 2021

South Korea’s central bank on Tuesday named Ground X, a blockchain subsidiary of the nation’s tech giant Kakao Corp., as the preferred bidder for the partner position on its pilot digital currency development program. The Bank of Korea in May uploaded posts on its website seeking businesses interested in a 10-month partnership deal as a technological supplier to develop its central bank digital currency. It plans to close the deal by the end of the month before kicking off the pi

Market July 20, 2021

An abrupt fall in housing prices in South Korea could deal a substantial blow to the nation’s consumer spending and the job market amid high levels of household debt, a report by the central bank showed Tuesday. Consumer spending and employment rate could both plummet 4 percent in the next two years if the median housing price falls 20 percent in the same period, according to the Bank of Korea’s calculations. The calculation adopted a high loan-to-value ratio of 75 percent and ref

Economy July 20, 2021

Citibank Korea’s planned announcement concerning details of its consumer banking business exit strategy was delayed by nearly a month on Friday, indicating that it may be facing more hurdles in the sell-off process. The firm previously said it would reveal the details of its exit plan -- whether it would sell off the entire retail banking business or in parts -- in July. A complete pull-out of the business in phases has been mentioned as a viable option as well. Citibank Korea CEO Yoo

Market July 16, 2021

South Korea’s central bank on Thursday kept its key policy rate anchored at record-low of 0.5 percent, with the latest wave of COVID-19 infections dampening its path to a hawkish policy. While some experts have said that a rate hike may come as early as this month, the widely-expected rate freeze decision came during this year’s fifth rate-setting meeting. The Bank of Korea has been keeping the rate at 0.5 percent since May 2020 after slashing it by a combined 0.75 percentage point

Economy July 15, 2021

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

Economy July 11, 2021

The scheduled launch of South Korea’s comprehensive data service project next month has been delayed, financial authorities said Thursday, with the COVID-19 pandemic stalling its development. The government-led MyData project, when launched, will allow licensed service providers to collect and analyze personal data scattered across the finance sector. The service providers must collect consumers’ consent before they can access their data, currently held separately by different finan

Market July 8, 2021

South Korean banks are adopting unprecedented measures to boost cybersecurity in a bid to better compete with local fintech firms. Woori Bank said Monday it became the first lender here to adopt the security orchestration, automation and response technology, or SOAR. SOAR is an advanced set of technologies that enables organizations to automatically collect and file security data. The latest technology would help upgrade its cybersecurity platform from the previous monitoring-focused system

Market July 5, 2021

South Korea’s fiscal policy will be expansionary but its monetary policy could turn slightly more hawkish, the respective chiefs in charge of each said Friday. Both said their solutions would minimize the economic woes stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki met Friday with Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol amid controversy over policy discord. There have been strong signals of a rate hike by the end of the year from the central bank, and the government recently unv

Economy July 2, 2021

Some 80 percent of South Koreans will receive 250,000 won ($220) each in the latest COVID-19 cash handout program, officials said Thursday. After a pangovernmental meeting, officials said they have decided to earmark 10.4 trillion won for the nation’s fifth cash relief program. The money will be funneled from the nation’s 33 trillion-won second COVID-19 extra budget for this year, which the ruling party and government jointly unveiled Tuesday. The “bottom 80 percent income b

Economy July 1, 2021

South Korean proxy advisory firm Sustinvest on Wednesday said it has given Shinhan Financial Group the highest rating for environmental, social and governance values for the first-half of this year. Sustinvest, which also provides ESG analytics and advisory services here, assesses and rates some 1,000 listed businesses annually on their ESG initiatives. The ESG advisor said its criteria includes whether the firms’ management are eco- and society- friendly and have sustainable corporate g

Market June 30, 2021

South Korea plans to allocate 33 trillion won ($29.2 billion) for its second round of COVID-19 supplementary budget this year, the ruling party and the government said Tuesday, amid growing concerns over the nation’s fast-growing national debt.  Since last year, the country has drawn up five rounds of COVID-19 extra budgets amounting to 82 trillion won with the latest and sixth addition pushing the number over the 100 trillion won-mark.  Ultimately, the total second extra budge

Economy June 29, 2021

In line with the digitalization of its services, South Korea’s NH NongHyup Bank is rolling out mobile loans and other products for its millennial and Generation Z customers seeking quick access to cash. Millennial and Gen Z customers can now borrow up to 3 million won ($2,639.68), regardless of their creditworthiness and income, by applying with the lender’s NH Smart Banking and All-One Bank apps. Approval is based on a credit rating that is calculated based on the applicant&rsquo

Market June 28, 2021

Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea considered to have “too many” coins on their trading platforms are apparently at risk of being denied access to personal bank accounts here, a report showed Monday. In a document acquired by a lawmaker here, a risk assessment guideline to be used by commercial lenders here classifies exchanges with “a high number and frequency of virtual money transactions” as high risk. The guideline was drawn up in April by the Korea Federation

Market June 28, 2021

Banks in South Korea have asked the financial authorities not to hold them responsible for money laundering or other fraud involving digital coins, at a time when they are under pressure to screen the digital exchanges for authenticity amid high volatility. The banks apparently remain reluctant to issue real-name accounts for local cryptocurrency exchanges’ virtual asset customers. A recent amendment to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information requires t

Market June 27, 2021