South Korea plans to bolster the country’s financing capabilities, aiming to back its firms with more plant-building projects overseas, the government said Wednesday. The government said it is planning to launch a task force led by the Ministry of Strategy & Finance, in collaboration with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and financial institutions such as Financial Services Commission, Ex-Im Ba...

Korea plans to tighten supervision of savings banks after the government was forced to suspend eight lenders this year because they were unable to meet depositors’ withdrawal demands. The Financial Services Commission will stop setting favorable lending limits for savings banks that have a capital-adequacy ratio of more than 8 percent and a bad-loan ratio below 8 percent, the regulator said in a...

Asiana Airlines, the country’s No. 2 air carrier, said Wednesday that it began accepting reservations for its new route Istanbul-Incheon which will operate from March 29. The carrier will offer the flight three times a week ― every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday ― to the Turkish city and each plane will be able to accommodate 299 people. The flights that will fly from Incheon every Tuesday and ...

SK Telecom said Wednesday that about 28,000 people had signed up for its to-be-released Apple iPhone 4 in the first seven hours of registration. A total of 28,000 people made their registrations by 2 p.m. and the number was expected to increase to up to 100,000 people by the end of the day, according to company officials. The country’s leading mobile carrier also said that the first group of 10...

Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea’s biggest electricity producer, plans to invest 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) over the next five years in a smart grid as part of the government’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Adding two-way communications and other enhancements to the nation’s current power-transmission grid nationwide by 2030 may cut about 10 percent of Korea’s annual power consumption,...

Korean lenders’ average capital adequacy ratio fell in the fourth quarter after Hana Bank helped finance its parent company’s purchase of Korea Exchange Bank. The ratio, a measure of capital reserves against assets at risk under the Basel II standard, slipped to 14.6 percent at the end of December from 14.62 percent three months earlier, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a statement. The...

Japan’s machinery orders rose more than economists expected in January, signaling that companies will boost spending as economic recoveries abroad strengthen. Factory orders increased 4.2 percent from December, when they rose 1.7 percent, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday in Tokyo. Orders, an indicator of capital spending in three to six months, were projected to climb 3 percent, according to th...

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. almost tripled annual profit after an increase in passenger numbers and a surge in cargo volumes that made it the world’s largest international air-freight carrier. Net income jumped to HK$14 billion ($1.8 billion) from HK$4.7 billion a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based carrier said in a statement to the city’s stock exchange Wednesday. The airline also said it had ag...