Most Popular
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Ador CEO denies allegations, accuses Hybe of mistreating NewJeans
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Medical reform committee kicks off despite boycott from doctors
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10-man S. Korea lose to Indonesia to miss out on Paris Olympic football qualification
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Hybe-Ador feud should have limited effect on Hybe's overall performance: analysts
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Second Gimpo civil servant found dead, after apologizing for not finishing work
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DP leader says he will meet Yoon without conditions
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Over 9,000 hotline calls made by stalking victims in 2023
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Monthly users on local streaming platforms outpace Netflix, Disney+
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[Hello India] Hyundai Motor vows to boost 'clean mobility' in India
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Seoul to promote luxurious side of the city
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[Herald Interview] Gopax seeks to win back public trust in cryptocurrency
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 15th installment. - Ed.Four cryptocurrency exchanges -- Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit -- have dominated South Korean trades on the highly volatile market, riding the bandwagon of futuristic technology and a wave of speculation. But with the volatile market now facing a waning public trust, cryptocurrency exchange Gopax, through its six-month operation, is seeking to
May 22, 2018
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Korean banks to see eased regulation on offshore expansion
Banks in South Korea will see eased regulation when opening physical offshore units, as a revision bill gained approval from the Cabinet on Monday. Following the revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Banking Act, banks will be exempt from the obligation to report to authorities about the establishment of foreign offices or branches prior to the setup, unless the investment into the foreign unit exceeds 1 percent of its capital. Before the revision, banks were required to submit a repor
May 21, 2018
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Kospi-listed firms see higher indebtedness in 2017: KRX
Companies listed on South Korea’s top-tier stock market Kospi saw their debt-to-capital ratio come to 111.4 percent in 2017, up 0.9 percentage point on-year, data showed Monday. The combined amount of liabilities of Kospi-listed firms reached 1,182.8 trillion won ($1.1 trillion), up 2.5 percent compared to a year prior, whereas the volume of capital came to 1,061.9 trillion won, up 1.7 percent, according to data compiled by the Korea Exchange.The market operator analyzed data on 598 firms
May 21, 2018
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Sizable number of companies struggling to repay debt: think tank
A sizable number of South Korean companies are hard pressed to repay their outstanding debt with the profit they make, a situation that could expose them to more risks amid a steady rise in interest rates, a local think tank said Sunday. The LG Economic Research Institute said 11.8 percent of local businesses are not able to effectively pay back their dues with their earnings from normal business operations.It said this percentage had actually fallen from 14.2 percent in 2012 to 8.8 percent thre
May 20, 2018
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Loan-deposit spread of local banks hit 3 1/2 year-high in Q1: BOK
The average loan-deposit spread of local lenders reached a 3 1/2 year high of 2.35 percent in the first quarter of this year, the central bank said Sunday. According to the Bank of Korea, the spread is the largest since the 2.44 percent tallied in the third quarter of 2014. It said the gap between interest paid by banks to their savings account holders and the interest rate for outstanding loans had fallen to 2.14 percentage points in the July-September period of 2016, but the number
May 20, 2018
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Woori Bank to become holding firm by 2019
Woori Bank Co., South Korea's third-largest commercial bank, said Sunday it will transform itself into a holding company by early next year to as part of effort to expand its business portfolio. Woori Bank said the decision is aimed at expanding its businesses from traditional banking to asset management, real estate and other financial services. The bank, which is 18.5 percent owned by the government, said it aims to establish the holding company by early 2019, taking consideration of time need
May 20, 2018
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With frenzy waning, cryptocurrency operators forced to seek new paths
As warnings of a bursting bubble and toughening state regulations have led to a drastic downturn of South Korea's digital currency market, local exchanges are struggling over how to remain viable going forward.Some have moved to diversify their businesses by making the most out of blockchain technology, but a series of incidents that have damaged public trust in the system seems to be holding them back, market watchers said Sunday. Last week, Bithumb announced the withdrawal of its planned
May 20, 2018
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Ledger-free blockchain to tokenize 1st business
PureChain, a ledger-free blockchain running on an inter-device communication system, seeks to tokenize its first business that it expects to shape the “gift economy,” its developers said Thursday.Called “Colorchain,” the new decentralized platform by Singapore-headquartered Pax Datatech will have its tokens distributed using PureChain’s technology that does not require a third-party consensus or a process for user authentication.PureChain is a decentralized system p
May 17, 2018
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Citibank Korea reports 6.7% rise in Q1 profit
Citibank Korea Inc. said Tuesday its net profit for the first quarter of this year rose 6.7 percent on-year, helped by stringent cost-cutting efforts. Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., posted a net profit of 73 billion won (US$6.8 million) for the January-March quarter. Its net interest margin (NIM), a measurement of profitability, climbed 0.08 percentage point on-quarter to 2.78 percent last quarter, the bank said. Citibank Korea has closed 90 of its 126 retail-bank
May 15, 2018
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Korean stocks newly added to MSCI EM moderately rally
Large and mid-cap South Korean stocks set to be added to global and regional equity indexes by MSCI moderately rallied Tuesday, after an announcement by the US index publisher to rebalance its indexes. MSCI, formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International, is an American provider support tool widely used as investment guidance. In the May 2018 Semi-Annual Index Review for the MSCI Equity Indexes released Monday, MSCI unveiled five Korean won-denominated shares to be added starting June 1. New to
May 15, 2018
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[Photo News] Commemorating cultural heritage
COMMEMORATING CULTURAL HERITAGE -- The state-owned Korea Minting and Security Printing Corp. unveiled Monday in Seoul commemorative medals that depict a now-defunct Korean consulate in Washington, built some 130 years ago. The cultural heritage building was repatriated by the government in 2012, about a century after being sold to the US upon the start of Japanese occupation in 1910. (Yonhap)
May 14, 2018
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[Kosdaq Star] 3-D inspection tech pioneer Koh Young avoids market slump
This is the 55th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. While leading sectors of South Korea’s second-tier stock market Kosdaq have suffered downward pressure over the past few weeks, some powerhouses have pulled through.One of the firms is Koh Young Technology, which has striven to make a linear growth since it was listed a decade ago. On the back of it was its earnings increase with its unrivaled tech prowess suitable for manufact
May 14, 2018
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Financial firms to launch massive recruitment
Major financial firms are poised to kick off massive recruiting in the latter half of this year, industry sources said Sunday, after allegations of illicit hiring caused many lenders to hold off offering jobs in the past. According to the financial industry sources, the nation's four major banks -- KEB Hana Bank, Woori Bank, Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank -- are preparing to hire a large of number of junior employees for this year. The hiring process had temporarily been frozen since late l
May 13, 2018
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Trade protectionism, household debt endanger S. Korean financial system: poll
Rapidly spreading global trade protectionism and South Korea's growing household debt are major risks now facing country's financial system, a survey showed Sunday.According to the poll of 72 market watchers of financial officials, researchers and investors conducted by the Bank of Korea, 76 percent said intensifying trade pressure and global protectionism was the biggest problem facing the country. The rate was 26 percent in a survey held in November last year.Asia's fourth-largest economy is o
May 13, 2018
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Foreigners shift to net sellers last month vs month earlier
Foreigners turned net sellers of South Korean stocks in April from a month earlier, with their stock holdings on the local exchanges reaching 32 percent of all listed shares, the financial regulator said Saturday. Last month, foreign investors sold a net 2.204 trillion won ($2.1 billion) worth of local stocks, a reversal from net purchases of 123 billion won worth of stocks a month earlier, data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed. By country, British investors sold the most, at a net
May 12, 2018
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Battle between FSS, Samsung BioLogics exacerbates market jitters
A war of words between the nation’s financial watchdog and Samsung BioLogics intensified Thursday over the legitimacy of authorities disclosing the biotech company’s alleged accounting fraud, further raising already heightened market fears.The Financial Supervisory Service found itself cornered, with officials at the upper echelon turning a cold shoulder, saying that its decision to reveal the content of a preliminary notice sent to Samsung has caused “market chaos.”On Ma
May 10, 2018
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[Herald Interview] Heenam’s scraper to make filing easier
The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 14th installment. - Ed.The advent of financial technology has minimized a South Korean smartphone user’s effort to manually collect personal information registered across the Web when submitting filings needed to buy a financial product online.Upon agreement by a user who logged on to a financial company‘s website, his or her set of private information from pu
May 9, 2018
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New FSS chief stresses watchdog's supervisory role, independence
Yoon Suk-heun, the newly inaugurated chief of the Financial Supervisory Service, on Tuesday underlined the need for the watchdog to remain independent from administrative pressure and market interests.“As suggested in the name ‘Financial Supervisory Service,' our role is to supervise financial (businesses)," said the 70-year-old reformist scholar upon taking office as the FSS governor, viewing independence as a key virtue in accomplishing such function. “Financial supervis
May 8, 2018
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Samsung Securities to face legal consequences over dividend fiasco
South Korea’s financial watchdog said Tuesday it will take legal actions against Samsung Securities for failing to operate with due internal standards for safe electronic financial transactions, which had resulted in a dividend fiasco last month involving the trade of unauthorized shares worth tens of billions of won. Such flaws are respectively violations of the Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies and the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, according to the Financial Sup
May 8, 2018
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Watchdogs take aim at Samsung BioLogics
South Korea’s financial regulator is likely to decide the fate of Samsung BioLogics on May 23 at the earliest over allegations that the company had doctored its accounting books. The nation’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission, said it would review the case by holding an in-house oversight panel next Thursday. If a breach of accounting regulations is found, the Securities and Futures Commission, a legal entity within the FSC, will decide the level of penalty i
May 7, 2018