Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Currency swap with Switzerland proves outside trust of Korean economy
ZURICH -- The bilateral currency swap deal with Switzerland proves that South Korea's economic fundamentals remain strong and there's trust in fiscal policy, the head of South Korea's central bank has said. Lee Ju-yeol, governor of the Bank of Korea, made the remarks Tuesday after signing the currency swap deal with the chairman of the Swiss National Bank's governing board, Thomas Jordan. The three-year swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between th
Feb. 21, 2018
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NH NongHyup acquires patent for call assessment system
South Korea’s agriculture cooperative-based NH NongHyup Bank developed a system to assess the quality of its customer calls in November and recently had a patent registered for the technology, officials said Tuesday.Built and operated on artificial intelligence and big data, the system gathers customer phone call records, sorts them out according to demands and designates an optimized level of customer service.“The new system will help us keep a more detailed watch on our financial c
Feb. 20, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Finda envisions online financial marketplace
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 10th installment. - Ed.Despite living in the era of information technology, financial consumers in South Korea have found it hard to gain access to trustworthy information online about financial products to compare and choose what suits the best.Lee Hye-min, co-chief executive officer of financial technology startup Finda, said financial consumers’ basic necessities
Feb. 20, 2018
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Korea to support 'normal transactions' of cryptocurrencies
Korea's financial regulator said Tuesday the government will support "normal transactions" of cryptocurrencies, about three weeks after it banned their trading through anonymous bank accounts.The remarks by Choe Heung-sik, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, were seen as being in stark contrast to the government's previous stance that it could consider shutting down local virtual currency exchanges.Korea launched a real-name trading system for cryptocurrency transactions Jan
Feb. 20, 2018
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Govt. considering easing tax burden on smaller firms: finance minister
The government is considering easing the tax burden on smaller firms and extending more financing to bolster their exports, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday.In a meeting with top executives of small and medium enterprises, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon also vowed to lift regulatory hurdles facing them in doing business. "The government is mulling a set of measures to ease the tax burden on smaller firms," Kim said. "We are also looking at various options to b
Feb. 20, 2018
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Non-financial firms to be allowed to engage in currency exchange
Non-bank institutions will be allowed to directly engage in currency exchange business starting next month as part of a broader deregulation drive to promote the local financial technology sector, the finance ministry said Tuesday.Under revised regulations on currency exchange, a qualified fintech firm will be able to offer a currency exchange service of up to $2,000 per person through their online platforms. Such fintech firms are required to make a reserve against potential claims from custome
Feb. 20, 2018
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Lendit's accumulated volume of loan tops W100b
Lendit, a peer-to-peer lending platform operator in South Korea, has extended a combined 101.8 billion won ($95.4 million) in nearly 7,300 consumer loans as of Monday to midrange borrowers seeking lower interest rates, according to the fintech startup Monday. After its 33 months of operation, Lendit marked the first local P2P lending platform operator fully devoted to consumer loan products to see the accumulated volume of loans top the 100 billion won mark, the company said. Borrowers from
Feb. 19, 2018
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Raonsecure to develop blockchain-based biometric authentication for online banking
Raonsecure, a South Korean biometric authentication firm, has teamed up with Seoul-based blockchain developer The Loop, to develop an authentication system for online financial services.The firms signed a memorandum of understanding on Feb. 12. Through the partnership, Raonsecure is expected to build a biometric authentication system on a decentralized platform provided by The Loop.Raonsecure follows the “fast identity online” security standard, which uses fingerprint, iris and
Feb. 19, 2018
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Sales of cryptocurrency operators soar eightyfold: data
SEJONG -- Sales of local cryptocurrency exchange operators are presumed to have soared more than eightyfold in 2017 compared with a year earlier, data showed Sunday.According to the data released by Rep. Park Kwang-on of the ruling Democratic Party, accumulated commission-related sales of some 30 cryptocurrency exchange operators are presumed to have reached 700 billion won ($648 million) as of the end of last year, compared with an estimated amount of 8 billion won as of the end of 2016. South
Feb. 18, 2018
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S. Korean shares to face lingering uncertainties next week
South Korean stocks could experience more volatility next week as investors move to rebalance their portfolios to reflect the latest economic data and prospects for the US interest rate following the Lunar New Year holiday, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,421.83 points on Wednesday, the last trading session of this week, with the traditional holiday beginning on Thursday. It marked a 2.39 percent gain compared to last Friday. The local market re
Feb. 17, 2018
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Kona I joins Visa biometric card pilot
Smart card manufacturer Kona I said Tuesday it has been selected as card supplier of a pilot project by US card firm Visa to develop a biometric payment card using fingerprint recognition technology. The Seoul-based firm will supply battery-free card components featuring energy harvesting technology to create pilots that capture, store and validate the card holder‘s fingerprint on the card, according to the firm. The move is expected to “endorse (Kona I’s) advanced technology a
Feb. 13, 2018
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Seoul shares end higher on bargain hunting
South Korean stocks ended higher Monday helped by bargain hunting by retail investors and gains on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 21.61 points, or 0.91 percent, to close at 2,385.38. Trade volume was moderate at 344.76 million shares worth 6.41 trillion won ($5.91 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 458 to 361. The local market advanced after Wall Street recovered Friday to pare some of its earlier losses. The
Feb. 12, 2018
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[IP in Korea] ‘Patent rights should be guaranteed for anyone’
Companies and individuals -- even nonpracticing entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls” -- should not be restrained from or blamed for exercising their guaranteed patent rights in the market, according to the chief of a leading intellectual property service provider.“The core point of the patent system is to bestow legal rights upon new technology and allow the patent holder to derive consequent economic profits,” Lee Hyung-chil, president of Worldwide Intellect
Feb. 11, 2018
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[Monitor] S. Korea to seal landmark currency swap deal with Switzerland
South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, announced Friday it would sign a currency swap deal on Feb. 20 with Switzerland‘s counterpart, the Swiss National Bank. The agreement will be signed in Zurich, Switzerland.The deal is expected to allow the Korean won and Swiss franc to be purchased and repurchased between the two central banks, as large as 10 billion Swiss franc ($10.6 billion). The maturity period will be three years and can be extended upon an additional bilateral agre
Feb. 11, 2018
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[Photo News] Shinhan Bank offers bonus rate for ‘Sunfull’ clean internet participants
Shinhan Bank will offer a 0.5 percent bonus rate to clients participating in the “Sunfull” clean Internet campaign, the bank said in a ceremony held at its Seoul headquarters Tuesday.The Sunfull Internet Peace Movement involves leaving positive comments online to encourage support and consideration among online users, Shinhan Bank said in a statement.The campaign is jointly hosted by the Sunfull Foundation, which aims to spread peace through non offensive online comments and educate
Feb. 7, 2018
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Celltrion to transfer to Kospi on Friday
Celltrion, a biosimilar maker listed on South Korea’s second-tier bourse Kosdaq, will begin trading on the top-tier market Kospi starting Friday, according to the Korea Exchange on Wednesday.Celltrion is the largest Kosdaq-listed share, with 31.4 trillion won ($28.9 billion) in market cap as of Wednesday. The maker of biosimilar drugs, such as Remsima and Truxima, is expected to constitute Korean markets’ composite benchmark indexes such as KRX 300 and Kospi 200. On Monday, the KRX,
Feb. 7, 2018
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[Monitor] US holdings of Korean stocks at record, rate hike-induced exodus feared
US investors held 265.1 trillion won ($244 billion) worth of stocks listed in South Korea as of the end of 2017, accounting for nearly 42 percent of all foreign-owned stocks, data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed Wednesday.US investors net bought stocks worth over 13 trillion won last year, becoming a major force behind the local bourse’ strong rally. The volume of US investment has increased by fourfold from 2008, when the Fed began its zero-rate policy, pushing investors to
Feb. 7, 2018
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Seoul to take actions, if needed, to calm market worries
Korea is prepared to take action to stem market instability recently caused by falling bond prices, which sent the local stock market plunging for the second straight session, the country's top economic policymaker said Wednesday. "We are closely monitoring market moves," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon told reporters after an economy-related ministers meeting. "We will take measures, if necessary." Like other global markets, the Seoul stock market has been shaken by a s
Feb. 7, 2018
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US stock funds feared to exit Korea in case of rate reversal
US investors in South Korean stocks may flee the local market should America's interest rates rise above Seoul's benchmark rate, analysts said Wednesday. The US Federal Reserve is tipped to jack up the federal funds rate three to four times this year on solid economic growth and rising inflationary pressure. The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting body, is widely projected to raise interest rates at a March 20-21 meeting, which would lead to a reversal of key rates in the two c
Feb. 7, 2018
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Authorities to expand recruitment probe to nonbank financial institutes
As part of an ongoing campaign to eradicate recruitment irregularities from the financial circle, the authorities are now seeking to expand their investigation into nonbank financial institutions. Concerns have been raised, however, that excessive control over private financial units may be taken as an infringement of business autonomy, which the incumbent government has often been blamed for.The Financial Supervisory Service is currently discussing with the Financial Services Commission on kick
Feb. 6, 2018