South Korea's central bank left the key interest rate unchanged on Friday in a bid to gauge the effect of a surprise rate hike made last month despite concerns about inflation. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his fellow policymakers froze the benchmark seven-day repo rate, dubbed the base rate, at 2.75 percent. Last month, the BOK unexpectedly hiked the borrowing costs by a quarter ...

Currency appreciation would improve supply of imports, reduce currency volatility, economists say A stronger won could help tame the country’s inflationary pressure, as a tool to ease the burden of surging import prices, economists said Thursday. Although tolerating a more expensive won would hurt exporters, the move will ease some supply shortage, they said. They predicted that further apprec...

Woori Finance Holdings Co., Korea's top financial group, drew four candidates for its chairmanship, including the current chairman deemed highly likely to serve another term, financial sources said Wednesday. Woori Finance Chairman Lee Pal-seung applied for the top post and is seen as the most powerful candidate for the chairmanship amid ongoing government efforts to put the company in private h...

The financial authority is poised to ask the prosecution to investigate Deutsche Bank AG and suspend part of businesses of the investment bank’s securities unit in Seoul for their alleged manipulation of stock prices, sources said Wednesday. According to several regulatory officials, Deutsche Bank’s brokerage unit in Seoul may face business suspension for “six months” ― the highest administrativ...

The Financial Services Commission unveiled a comprehensive package to curb excessive competition among credit card companies on Wednesday, a precautionary measure to prevent another liquidity crunch amid growing risks of reckless card and loan issuance. The financial regulator said it plans to induce issuers to offer reasonable supplementary services that would not harm their profitability and c...

Analysts’ views were mixed on the prospect of an interest rate hike ahead of the monetary policy committee’s monthly meeting for benchmark interest rate-setting slated for Friday. This reflects the Bank of Korea’s dilemma of containing rising prices while keeping growth on track. Inflation driven by fresh food prices and commodities abroad is pressuring the central bank to raise the key rate for...

Woori, Shinhan, KDB to select new heads in March amid looming industry consolidation Veteran bankers and former bureaucrats are jockeying in several races for top financial business posts dogged by alleged political pressure, in-house power struggles and procedural disputes. Woori Finance Holdings and Shinhan Financial Group plan to select their new heads next month. Hana and KDB groups are als...

Korea’s banking giants are tapping China, Vietnam and other Asian countries as they wade through competition in the highly saturated local credit card market, industry watchers said Tuesday. The overseas push comes as Korean card firms have been beefing up their marketing expenses in a bid to lure more subscribers with spin-offs and new entries expected to further intensify competition to grab a...

The Korean bond market continues to see an outflow of funds for a third month as investors flee to capture rising yields elsewhere and tab on bullish equities. The investor exodus is led by foreigners who were fast to exit the market to avoid a revived tax of as much as 14 percent on interest income which Seoul imposed in January to limit capital inflows. Analysts attributed the continued price...

Korean stocks finished 0.47 percent higher on Monday, led by financial companies, as upbeat U.S. data boosted investor sentiment amid subdued trading after a national holiday, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar. After rising more than 1.7 percent at one point, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 2,081.74, up 9.71 points from the previo...

The National Tax Service will launch a forensic investigation center Tuesday to fight increasingly sophisticated tax evasion. The Forensic & Anti Tax Evasion Center will be headquartered in Seoul with regional teams working in the agency’s Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu and Busan offices. Each team will have about 30 officials. “There are limits to the probe with our traditional enforcement tools as t...