The Financial Supervisory Service said on Wednesday that it has slapped the Korean life insurance unit of Netherlands-based ING Group with fines of 452 million won ($393,000) for breaching an insurance business law.ING Life was found to have over-purchased bonds issued by four companies including Korean Air between October 2010 and February 2012, thereby violating the law banning an insurer from owning too many bonds issued by a particular company.The FSS said the company formerly held bonds abo

Sept. 4, 2013

The National Tax Service on Tuesday launched its investigation into POSCO by dispatching a group of inspectors to the steel producer’s headquarters in southern Seoul.The state tax inspectors also raided POSCO’s two steel mills in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.Without offering a prior notice on their visit, the inspectors reportedly secured the company’s financial statements and computer hard disks in executives’ offices.As the company was subject to peri

Sept. 3, 2013

Scholarship or welfare foundations of the nation’s 10 major business groups were found to hold shares worth more than 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) in their commercial affiliates such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor.Data compiled by Chaebul.com, which tracks conglomerate-related information, showed Monday that 19 nonprofit foundations, controlled by the 10 conglomerates, collectively own stocks totaling 4.72 trillion won in their profit-making sister firms as of Aug. 29.While the organi

Sept. 2, 2013

Seven of the 10 biggest business groups in Korea saw a contraction in profits or widening losses in the first half on a year-on-year basis, apparently hit by weaker price competitiveness in exports due to the cheap Japanese currency.According to the Korea Listed Companies Association, 79 publicly traded units owned by the 10 major conglomerates saw their collective operating profit come to 24.3 trillion won ($21.1 billion) during the first half, down 4.1 percent from 25.3 trillion won in the sam

Sept. 1, 2013

Korean companies’ stock issuances fell to their lowest level since the 2008-09 global financial crisis during the first half, signaling sluggish corporate fund-raising in the securities market.According to the World Federation of Exchanges and Korea’s financial investment industry, the corporate initial public offerings were valued at $228 million in the local stock market for the first six months of the year.The IPOs accounted for only 0.02 percent of the combined market capitalization worth $1

Sept. 1, 2013

The National Tax Service announced Thursday that it would bar its senior officials from playing golf or dining out with executives of large businesses, starting later this year.Following a series of corruption scandals, tax authorities issued the ban on high-profile NTS officials on privately meeting with CEOs, executives and tax advisers of the nation’s 100 major conglomerates.The senior tax investigators that will be subject to the prohibition include officials holding positions of director ge

Aug. 29, 2013

Financial authorities on Tuesday unveiled the vision to strengthen the state-policy financing by merging the state-controlled KDB Financial Group and the Korea Finance Corp. by July 2014.The separate functions of KDB Financial and the KoFC are scheduled to be re-integrated five years after the latter spun off from the financial group in 2009, according to the Financial Services Commission.The merge, in which KDB is to re-absorb the KoFC, should go through lawmakers’ approval procedures during th

Aug. 27, 2013

Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association showed Monday that six out of the 23 foreign asset management firms operating in Korea reported losses during the second quarter of the year.They included Goldman Sachs Wealth Management, which posted an operating loss of 3.15 billion won ($2.7 million) during the April-June period. As its deficit deepened from 263 million won over the same period last year, the U.S.-based firm has decided to close down its business in Korea.CBRE Global Invest

Aug. 26, 2013

Some stock brokerage firms have decided to close down amid a worsening business environment in the domestic market, according to financial industry sources.A few securities firms recently tendered applications for “returning their business license” to financial authorities, said a source.Citing the saturated market, the sources said the low profitability in the securities sector is somewhat attributable to the oversupply under which the number of brokerage houses comes to 62.“It is time to serio

Aug. 23, 2013

Worries over a massive capital outflow are escalating in the local financial market as indices show that a number of overseas investors pulled out from fund products this week.The trend reflects global concern about a possible financial crisis in emerging countries such as India and Indonesia, which may have negative impact on Korean industries.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on Thursday, the local market posted a net capital outflow from the “funds investing in Korean st

Aug. 22, 2013

Korea’s financial authorities are considering drawing up contingency plans to cope with the negative impact of a possible financial crisis in emerging Asian countries, industry sources said on Wednesday. The move by the financial policymakers comes after news that India, Indonesia and Thailand have recently undergone a drop in their currency value and equity prices, which were reportedly affected by the U.S. exit strategy to retrieve its investment in emerging countries.The policymakers also app

Aug. 21, 2013

The Financial Supervisory Service said Wednesday that it has reprimanded Allianz Life Insurance Korea for engaging in accounting irregularities.The local unit of Munich-based Allianz Group was found to have breached the regulatory rules that mandate insurers to draw up their financial statements under guidelines set by the FSS governor or the Financial Services Commission chairman.According to FSS officials, the company reported artificially low reserves for its insurance payments, instead inves

Aug. 21, 2013