South Korea aims to attract more foreign capital as part of its efforts to promote globalization of its financial industry, the top financial watchdog said Thursday. Zhin Woong-seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, made the remarks earlier in the day at an international conference of finance in the southern port city of Busan. South Korea is working to promote the derivative fina...

Fewer than 4 in 10 irregular workers in South Korea benefit from the country's state pension program, a much lower percentage than full-time employees, a report said Thursday. Slightly over 36 percent of temporary workers had state pension subscriptions as of 2016, compared to 83 percent for regulars, according to the report by the Korea Labor Institute. Roughly 68 percent of all workers in the...

A potential US interest rate hike in June is likely to have an insignificant impact on the South Korean stock market as it is widely expected, analysts said Thursday. The Federal Reserve is slated to hold its monetary policy meeting on June 14-15 amid widespread expectations the US central bank will jack up its benchmark lending rate for the second time this year. The Fed raised rates in March o...

The head of South Korea's central bank called Thursday for measures to cope with population aging that could undermine growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said South Korea is not well-prepared for its rapidly increasing older population. Experts have expressed concerns that the aging population, coupled with a low birthrate, poses a serious threat to Asia's f...

South Korean stocks opened lower on Thursday, as investors attempted to cash in recent gains, but top market cap Samsung Electronics continued to build up gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 3.6 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,343.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Large-cap stocks were mixed across the board. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics was up 0.22 percent, c...

South Korea's exports jumped 13.4 percent last month from a year earlier to extend their winning streak to seven months on the back of brisk overseas sales of computer chips and displays, the trade ministry said Thursday. Outbound shipments came to $45 billion last month, up from $39.7 billion tallied a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country's exports...

South Korea ranked high in first-quarter economic growth among major advanced and emerging economies as its economy got a boost from recovering exports and investment, data showed Thursday. Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 0.9 percent on-quarter in the January-March period from three months earlier, a quarterly increase of 0.4 percentage point in the fourth quarter of last year, according ...

South Korean banks saw their financial health improve slightly in the first-quarter of this year, helped by less exposure to risky assets, the financial regulator said Thursday. The average capital adequacy ratio of 17 commercial and state-run banks stood at 15.14 percent as of end-March, up 0.33 percentage point from the previous quarter, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. A key b...

South Korea's consumer prices continued their upbeat mode to touch the 2 percent level in May on high-flying oil and livestock prices, government data showed Thursday. The country's consumer price index gained 2 percent last month from a year earlier, slightly up from the previous month's 1.9 percent rise, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Consumer prices have been hovering ar...

South Korea's central bank should maintain the current monetary easing policy to support growth, a member of the Bank of Korea's monetary policy board said Wednesday. Koh Seung-beom made the case during a luncheon meeting with reporters at the BOK headquarters in central Seoul, noting the recovery of domestic demand is not strong yet. He also said he does not believe a US rate hike could trigge...

The use and the amount of money traded via smartphone banking apps has continues to surge becoming a major transaction platform, the Bank of Korea’s data showed. As of the first quarter this year, an average of 94.12 million transactions were made through smartphone banking, up 7.3 percent from the previous quarter, accounting for up 61 percent of all internet banking. Daily transactions averag...

South Korea’s tech-heavy stock market hit this year’s record high for two consecutive days, topping the 650 mark for the first time in more than seven months on Wednesday. The benchmark Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations closed at 652.04, up 0.46 percent from the previous trading day Tuesday, when it closed at 649.06. The index for the second-tier market had not surpassed 650 mark s...

Mirae Asset Daewoo on Wednesday denied recent reports that the company is considering taking over SK Securities. A report on the previous day said that the company would push forward several takeovers to expand its equities and develop itself into a mega investment bank. It also predicted that SK Securities is the leading candidate as there were rumors that Mirae Asset Daewoo Chairman Park Hyeo...

Deloitte Anjin has named its new CEO Lee Jung-hee, who has been managing partner in Deloitte Tax group since 2010, the accounting firm said Wednesday. Lee will take the helm starting Thursday. The career accountant, known for his expertise as a corporate tax adviser for multinational companies, is expected to serve a 3-year term. Lee was nominated as a sole candidate for the chief executive in ...

Following the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye and the election of President Moon Jae-in, some foreign investors in Korea have heaved a sigh of relief in anticipation that the country’s economic instability during the turbulent political times will finally begin to normalize. Foreign-invested firms make up 20.9 percent of the nation’s total exports and 5.7 percent of jobs. Of these firms...