The antitrust watchdog launched a probe into banks and credit card companies for possible manipulation in their service charges, industry sources confirmed Sunday, intensifying its push to slash fees further. The Fair Trade Commission is said to have launched their investigation into 17 local banks and more than 13 credit card firms to see if they conspired to fix prices to ease competition. Cha...

South Korean stocks are forecast to move in a tight range next week as fiscal debt problems in Europe and the United States will weigh on investor sentiment, analysts here said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 1,839.17 on Friday, down 1.27 percent from a week earlier. The market suffered ups and downs throughout the week, affected by news coming from the debt-...

FSC paves the way for the country’s biggest banking takeover amid protests Korea’s financial regulators on Friday paved the way for Lone Star Funds, convicted of stock manipulation, to take huge premiums from selling its stake in Korea Exchange Bank. The nine-member panel of the Financial Services Commission chose not to take stern action against the U.S.-based fund, ordering it to sell most of...

Attention focused on whether stern measures will hit U.S. buyout fund The nine-member panel of the Financial Services Commission is scheduled to unveil its measures against Lone Star Funds, convicted of stock rigging, on Friday. The members include FSC Chairman Kim Seok-dong, Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se, FSC Vice Chairman Choo Kyung-ho, Vice Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon, K...

The nine-member panel of the Financial Services Commission is scheduled to unveil its measures against Lone Star Funds, convicted of stock rigging, on Friday, which will possibly mark a historic event. The members include FSC chairman Kim Seok-dong, Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Kwon Hyouk-se, FSC vice chairman Choo Kyung-ho, Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. president Lee Seung-woo and Bank of...

An independent watchdog aimed at strengthening the rights of financial consumers will be set up during the first half of 2012, after a decision by the Financial Services Commission on Wednesday. At the nine-member panel discussion, the FSC decided to spin off the department in charge of consumer protection from the Financial Supervisory Service, an executive arm of the FSC. FSS Gov. Kwon Hyouk-...

Lawmakers mount calls for reactivation of plan to sell government-held stake Financial authorities are expected to come up with a new plan soon to privatize state-owned Woori Financial Group as calls from politicians for resumption of the stalled sale plan are mounting, sources said Tuesday. Last week, some members of the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly called for Korea Depos...

Financial regulators’ planned action against Lone Star Funds is expected to affect the fate of Kim Seung-yu, chairman of Hana Financial Group striving to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from the U.S.-based equity fund. Early this year, group board members allowed Kim, who secured the post of Hana Bank CEO and Hana Financial chairman in 1997, to extend his term for the top post by one more year until...

Samsung, Hyundai, Shinhan in campaign to attract more customers Credit card companies are fighting another marketing war despite financial regulators’ warnings against signing up too many customers. The industry’s big three ― Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card and Samsung Card ― have taken the initiative in the issuance competition. Other companies, such as KB Kookmin, Lotte and Hana-SK, are set to fol...