The Korea Exchange suspended the stock trading business of Hanmag Securities, which incurred technical faults in operation of investors’ sell and buy orders on Thursday. The brokerage firm is estimated to have suffered losses worth 46 billion won on the day ($41 million) due to its order mistake, according to the main bourse. Hanmag said it failed to settle all transactions on Friday, making th...

Visa and MasterCard will be obliged to cut their membership fees for Korean consumers by 50 percent compared to the current level, under instructions by financial authorities. “After offering a grace period of about six months, the regulatory policy will take effect in the latter half of 2014,” said an official at the Financial Supervisory Service. The stern action of the authorities comes afte...

Nine travel agencies were found to have overcharged consumers fuel adjustment fees, which are calculated on the basis of oil prices, in their proxy sales of air tickets, the Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday. The companies are Hana Tour, Interpark Tour, Online Tour, Mode Tour, Yellow Balloon Tour, Web Tour, Tour Baksa, Naeil Tour and Very Good Tour. They were also found to have engaged in in...

The number of divorce cases among elderly or middle-aged Koreans surpassed 30,000 for the first time in 2012, according to Statistics Korea data released on Tuesday. According to the state statistics agency, the number of divorces among people whose married life exceeded 20 years reached about 30,200 last year. This comprised 26.4 percent of the total number of divorces in 2012 among couples of ...

Financial authorities plan to prevent foreign investors from bidding for the state-funded Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. Government officials said Tuesday that the state policy decision came after Russia’s state-controlled oil producer Rosneft was rumored to have recently expressed interest in DSME, which is scheduled to be put up for auction in the coming months. An official cited n...

Financial authorities are working to placate creditors of Ssangyong Engineering & Construction, as the builder could face a more serious situation than its current debt rescheduling: delisting from the stock market. The Financial Services Commission’s efforts have been stepped up after the Military Mutual Aid Association moved to provisionally seize the bank accounts of the cash-strapped constru...

Bank of Korea data showed Thursday that growth of gross national income, which indicates purchasing power, stood at its lowest level in the past six quarters. The GNI for the third quarter inched up 0.2 percent from the previous quarter, which marks the lowest rate since it posted 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012. It is a noteworthy slowdown, compared to the 2.9 percent growth in the se...

Former Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Seung-yu expressed his willingness to step down from his post as adviser to the financial firm. His departure comes after the Financial Supervisory Service said it was investigating allegations that Kim had engaged in irregular business practices during his tenure as the group’s chief. Hana Bank owns about 4,000 pieces of artwork. Kim is known to be an a...

The Green Climate Fund will kick off its operations in Korea on Wednesday, with a fund-raising operation on a similar scale to that of the International Monetary Fund. In late 2012, Songdo in Incheon was chosen as the permanent home to the environment-oriented fund, beating two major competitors ― Geneva, Switzerland, and Bonn, Germany ― in the competition to host the secretariat. Its total fun...

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said Friday that the government needs to carefully review Korea’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership called TPP, a U.S.-led move to create a free trade bloc linking Pacific Rim states. Speaking at a meeting with trade-related ministers, Hyun said it is necessary for the government to express interest in the participation in the ...

The Park Geun-hye administration is considering easing a set of business regulations on medical institutions and schools in free economic zones nationwide. During a policy briefing to the president on Thursday, the National Economic Advisory Council unveiled a vision to develop the service industry by lifting outdated barriers in terms of attracting foreign capital to the FEZs in Incheon and oth...