A Seoul citizen has to save their entire income without spending a dime for more than 12 years in order to buy a house in the city due to the country’s soaring apartment prices, data showed Monday.  The capital city’s house price to income ratio, or PIR -- a widely used measurement of house affordability in a given region -- reached 12.13 in 2019, said Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, quoting data from the National Assembly Research Service. The

Market Aug. 3, 2020

South Korea’s economy declined 3.3 percent on-year during the second quarter, but it ranks second in terms of gross domestic product growth rate among major economies, data showed Sunday.  According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the nation’s second-quarter GDP growth rate was the second-highest among 14 major economies. China clinched the first place as its economy grew 11.5 percent during the same period.  The OECD -- a forum of 37 mostly

Economy Aug. 2, 2020

In an effort to lower consumer risks caused by the overheated equity-linked securities market, South Korea’s financial regulator said Thursday it will impose tighter regulations on leverage ratio of brokerages, which would lead to a decline in overall issuance here. ELS refers to hybrid debt instruments structured to track the performance of underlying equities, including the Kospi 200 Index. Total ELS issuances here surpassed 100 trillion won ($83.7 billion) as of this year, attracting

Market July 30, 2020

South Korea’s top financial authorities on Wednesday pledged to investigate all private equity fund operators over the next three years, apologizing for causing public concerns over the snowballing hedge fund fiasco.  “The recent fiasco is due to some irresponsible fund operators and lax oversight of the financial market,” said Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Yoon Suk-heun at a parliamentary briefing.  “In August, the FSS will embark on a large-scale pro

Market July 29, 2020

Nearly 67 percent of South Koreans between the ages of 55 and 79 want to keep working, a survey showed Tuesday. Their preferred retirement age is 73 on average.  According to a survey conducted by Statistics Korea, some 9.62 million respondents, or 67 percent of the 14.27 million citizens surveyed, said they want to keep working, up 2.5 percentage point from the previous year. They hoped to earn a monthly wage between 1.5 million won ($1,270) and 2 million won. Nearly 60 percent of the

Economy July 28, 2020

South Korea’s online-only lender K bank said Monday it plans to launch a new untact -- non face-to-face -- loan balance transfer service in the second half of this year, the first of its kind in the industry.  Customers will have digital signatures registered to its own electronic system, so it can lend money instead of having to go through paper work needed to verify the authenticity of one’s seal certificate. A loan balance transfer is a service that allows borrowers to

Market July 27, 2020

Taking a hit from the private equity debacle, Shinhan Financial Group failed to prolong its solid earnings streak in the second quarter and handed over the industry’s top position to rival KB Financial Group, data showed. For the three months that ended June 30, Shinhan posted a net profit of 873.1 billion won ($725.9 million), down 6.4 percent from a quarter earlier and 12.3 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement Friday. The latest result came in line with outlo

Market July 26, 2020

South Korea will push ahead with privately financed infrastructure projects worth more than 30 trillion won ($25.1 billion) this year, as part of its efforts to revive the coronavirus-battered economy, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. The projects include construction of highways as well as sewage systems, worth 4.5 trillion won and 2.3 trillion won, respectively, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki in a meeting with economy-related ministers.  The authorities

Economy July 23, 2020

South Korea’s financial regulator said Wednesday it has permitted BC Card to acquire a 34 percent controlling stake in internet-only K bank. With the Financial Services Commission’s approval, the credit card processing subsidiary of telecom giant KT will become the largest shareholder of the country’s first online-only lender. Earlier in May, the company had requested the FSC to review its eligibility to become K bank’s largest shareholder.  Initially, KT had so

Market July 22, 2020

South Korea’s lodging and dining industry’s revenue plummeted to a 10-year low in the first quarter with a surge in loan requests, the central bank said Wednesday.  According to data from the Bank of Korea, the industrial production index for the hospitality sector stood at 85.6, down 15.5 percent from the same quarter last year, marking the steepest fall since 2010. The IPA -- which measures current economic conditions -- is calculated based on sales figures in each busine

Market July 22, 2020

Financial Services Commission Eun Sung-soo will attend a closed-door meeting of the heads of South Korea’s five biggest banking groups Friday to discuss whether to further ease loan repayment schedules for coronavirus-battered companies, industry sources said Sunday. It is unusual for the FSC chief to attend the meeting convened by the five chiefs, according to insiders. Through the meeting, the authorities are slated to seek a consensus on the details of a further extension of loan re

Market July 19, 2020

For Kim Su-yeon, a 40-year-old office worker, standing in line for a Louis Vuitton bag has become a way to beat the heat -- instead of traveling overseas for some relaxation and summer fun.  “All my travel plans came to naught due to the coronavirus spread, so I decided to pour my savings into Louis Vuitton bags,” said Kim, who joined the lines stretched along the street leading to the main branch of Shinsegae Department Store in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, Tuesday. Her ques

Market July 16, 2020

South Korea’s financial regulator on Thursday held a joint working group meeting to discuss measures to nurture financial services based on artificial intelligence technologies, in preparation for new waves of digital transformation in the sector.  Hosted by the Financial Services Commission, the meeting was attended by traditional local lenders, fintech firms and leading AI programming companies.  Its main agenda was to seek ways to improve the current regulations that hampe

Market July 16, 2020

Responding to growing trade and investment volume between South Korea and Africa, the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea has signed a sublease contract worth $100 million with the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank via a videoconference, officials said Wednesday.  Launched in 1985, the TDB, a multilateral, treaty-based development financial institution, is aimed at financing local businesses as well as trade activities in the African regions. It has 22 member coun

Market July 15, 2020

The South Korean real estate market ranked 30th in terms of transparency, a survey showed Wednesday. According to Jones Lang LaSalle Korea, the country climbed one notch in its Global Real Estate Transparency Index, a benchmark of real estate market transparency that covers 99 countries. The index studies 210 indicators, including the level of sustainable management, resilience to economic crisis and technological advances of respective countries.  Officials of the global real estate se

Market July 15, 2020