The money supply in South Korea jumped 5.9 percent in June from a year earlier, the central bank said Wednesday. The nation's M2 totaled 2,470.8 trillion won ($2.17 trillion) in June, compared to 2,334.2 trillion won a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a statement. The money supply gained 0.4 percent on-month, the statement said. The growth rate of the money supply has been on the declin...

South Korea's household loans extended by banks rose 9.4 percent in July from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans from lenders came to 737.7 trillion won ($650 billion) as of the end of last month, compared with 673.7 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. Compared with June, the amou...

South Korea's top financial regulator on Wednesday unveiled details of upcoming ordinances that will require insurers to gradually increase their capital reserves from December to help them better cope with changes in global accounting rules. The Financial Services Commission will also ease some requirements on risk-based capital ratios for insurers to help them comply with the rules under the n...

South Korea's tax office said Wednesday that it has launched a probe into 286 people suspected of evading taxes through illegal real estate transactions as part of the government's drive to curb property market speculation. Last week, the government announced stricter measures to stabilize the country's overheated housing market around the capital city of Seoul and its surrounding areas. It impo...

South Korea's finance chief said Wednesday that the government is keeping close tabs on the local financial market following the latest North Korean provocations, but predicted only a limited impact. "We are watching the market around-the-clock, but its impact seems to be limited," Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said in a meeting with economy-related ministers in central Seoul. "We are mapping o...

South Korean stocks extended losses late Wednesday morning as rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs weighed on the main index. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 21.27 points, or 0.89 percent, to 2,373.46 as of 11:25 a.m. The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.15 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasda...

The US-proposed meeting of a joint committee on the South Korea-US free trade agreement to discuss possible changes to the trade pact will likely be delayed due to time needed for Seoul's new top FTA negotiator to prepare, a government official said Wednesday. "No date or time has been set for the meeting," the official told Yonhap News Agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. In a letter, d...

No new trade restrictions against South Korean products were reported in July, but it is premature to say the global protectionist trend has weakened, a local trade body said Wednesday. According to the Korea International Trade Association, July was the second month this year that no new trade barriers were erected against South Korean goods by importing countries. The last time was in January....

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday as rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs weighed on the main index. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 12.44 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,382.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.15 percent, with the tech-heavy Na...

South Korea's gross domestic product ranked 11th worldwide in 2016, with its per capita income based on purchasing power remaining unchanged, data showed Wednesday. The country's GDP stood at $1.41 trillion last year, with its global standing remaining flat from the previous year, according to the data from the World Bank. GDP, the broadest measure of an economy's performance, refers to the tot...

South Korea's jobless rate remained unchanged in July from a year earlier amid some signs of recovery in the manufacturing sector, government data showed Wednesday. The unemployment rate stood at 3.5 percent last month, staying flat from the same month last year, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea. From a month earlier, it dropped 0.3 percentage point. The number of employed p...

The drastic expansion of the peer to peer financing market seemed to be slowing down over the past months due to tightened investment regulations, but is expected to see a rebound from the recent fiscal tapering of the banking sector. It is especially likely to absorb the investor cluster who, under the government’s new restrictive measures on real estate transactions, are swiftly turning away f...

Banks in South Korea saw their gross net profit reach 8.1 trillion won ($7.19 billion) during the first half of this year, an over 2.7 times increase on-year, while their operating profit surged by more than sixfold, data showed Tuesday. The net profit of all banking institutions -- including commercial banks, provincial banks, state-owned banks, cooperative banks and the central bank -- surged ...

South Korean goods are losing their presence in one of their largest overseas market, China, with the products taking up 9.4 percent of China’s import market in the first half of the year, the lowest since 2014, data from the Korea International Trade Association showed. The proportion was 10.4 percent and 10 percent in 2015 and 2016, respectively, until South Korean exporters were hit by Beijin...

South Korean stocks fluctuated to close lower Tuesday as institutional buyers went on a heavy selling-spree to partially offset some foreign buying, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index surrendered 4.02 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 2,394.73. Trade volume was low at 243 million shares worth 4.5 trillion won ($4 billion),...