The International Monetary Fund has forecast a contraction of 4.9 percent for the global economy in 2020, citing worse-than-expected economic outputs in the first quarter and a more pessimistic forecast for the second quarter, the Seoul government said Wednesday evening. The figure is down 1.9 percentage point from the earlier estimate in April.  In its World Economic Outlook Update, the IMF also expected that the South Korean economy will post a contraction of 2.1 percent this year, do

Economy June 24, 2020

The South Korean government on Tuesday unveiled measures to slap sanctions on illegal private lenders to protect local financial consumers from related fraud.  The Financial Services Commission and relevant government agencies announced that they will compose a pangovernmental group to jointly implement countermeasures against illegal private lending here, which normally targets low-income and desperate families, charging high interest rates.  The move came as the country’s il

Economy June 23, 2020

The combined spending by Korean financial institutions on social contributions hit a record high in 2019, data showed Tuesday.  A total of 22 financial institutions in Korea, including five major local lenders and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund as well as Korea Housing Finance Corp., spent 1.3 trillion won ($935 million) on social contribution activities last year, the highest figure since 2006 when the Korea Federation of Banks started compiling relevant data. The figure jumped 15 percent

Market June 23, 2020

　  South Korea is making all-out efforts to accelerate digital transformation in the financial sector, having launched a data exchange platform last month for convenient transactions.  From credit card transaction histories, spending trends in online shopping malls to transport payments, data processed for marketing and research purposes is now being traded without having to worry about security breaches, on FinDX.  FinDX is Korea’s first financial data exchange platfor

Market June 21, 2020

The level of household debt in Asia’s fourth-largest economy rose at the fastest pace among major economies in 2019, data showed Sunday.  According to the data from the Bank for International Settlements, household debt in South Korea accounted for 95.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product as of the fourth quarter last year, increased by 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier. The growth rate ranked first among 43 major economies alongside Hong Kong. Norway came

Market June 21, 2020

Six out of 10 accounts offered at commercial banks in South Korea offer near-zero interest rates on their deposits following the central bank’s key rate cut in May. According to data released Wednesday by the Korea Federation of Banks, 31 out of 51 commercial banks’ 12-month deposit accounts provided their customers with yields of less than 0.5 percent as of June. This indicates that 6 out of 10 major banks’ deposit products do not even offer 1 percent interest a y

Market June 17, 2020

　 Major foreign investment banks and institutions have revised their economic growth outlook for South Korea, data showed Tuesday.  According to the Korea Center for International Finance, nine foreign investment banks -- Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, HSBC, Nomura and UBS -- forecast that the local economy will contract by 0.4 percent this year on average, slightly improved from the minus 0.9 percent growth estimated in late Apr

Economy June 16, 2020

The chief of South Korea’s central bank on Friday vowed all-out efforts to speed up the country’s economic recovery amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, raising the possibility of further monetary easing policies.  In a speech to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the central bank’s founding, Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said monetary easing policies needed to be implemented until signs of an economic recovery appear.  To prompt credit flows in local financi

Economy June 12, 2020

The Financial Services Commission said Thursday it will innovate the current personal identification system in a way that consumers can enjoy diverse authentication services other than face-to-face method when using financial services. “Most of the current ID verification measures in the financial sector are based on face-to-face system, which given rise to the need to diversify verification services,” Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo told the reporters during a

Market June 11, 2020

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said Thursday it has published an English-language version of a booklet explaining its countermeasures against the economic shock due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the international community. Titled “Safeguarding Economic Resilience,” the booklet introduces a number of fiscal measures that the government has implemented as well as some preliminary policies set up to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era, officials said.  Since February, when co

Economy June 11, 2020

   The number of unemployed in South Korea in May hit the highest level in more than a decade as businesses continued to freeze jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday.  According to data released by Statistics Korea, the number of employed totaled at 26.93 million last month, shedding 392,000 jobs compared with a year earlier, which marked the third consecutive monthly loss.  This was the first occurrence since the country reported job losses for four s

Economy June 10, 2020

NH NongHyup Bank announced Wednesday its partnership with a local law firm as well as blockchain developer to set up a consortium for jointly developing financial services using virtual assets. The bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with law firm Bae, Kim & Lee and Hexlant, a blockchain technology laboratory, to launch a joint institution for the research and development of cryptocurrency exchanges.  The move came as the revised bill of the Act on Report and Use of Specif

Market June 10, 2020

  South Korea’s financial data exchange platform, the first of its kind here, has seen billions of won worth of data being traded there in its month.  Since kicking off on May 11, the platform has reportedly arranged 315 transactions of financial information collected from local companies, including credit card issuers and lenders, according to the state-run Financial Security Institute, which operates the platform. A total of 113 data sets were sold and the average sales pri

Market June 9, 2020

As part of its move to nurture the data-based financial industry and financial technology businesses, Korea’s financial authorities will open up 44.5 million pieces of public financial data to the public for free, starting Wednesday, regulator Financial Services Commission said Monday. The range of public financial data consists of large sets of information stored at the FSC and eight other public financial institutions in Korea -- the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Developmen

Market June 8, 2020

Housing prices in South Korea are expected to rise in the latter half of this year due to growing demand buoyed by lower interest rates, the Eugene Investment and Securities said in its quarterly report Monday.  “Cash flow into the housing sector will continue to rise amid the prolonged period of low interest rates here, with a rise in demand triggering higher apartment prices,” said Kim Yeol-mae, an analyst at the brokerage. Meanwhile, the average apartment price in Seoul du

Market June 8, 2020