Samsung Card Co., the credit card arm of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, has become the No. 2 player in the local industry thanks to the company’s stepped-up efforts to boost its market share, sources said Wednesday.The market share of Samsung Card reached 14.1 percent in the second quarter of last year, trailing only Shinhan Card Co. with 20.8 percent and outpacing rivals such as KB Kookmin Card Co. and Hyundai Card Co. KB Kookmin Card and Hyundai Card accounted for 13.3 percent a

Cash cards that use magnetic strips for transactions will be partially banned at automated teller machines starting Feb. 1.Under regulatory countermeasures to minimize financial scams including forgery of credit cards or cash cards, the Financial Supervisory Service has advised consumers to replace their magnetic cards with “integrated circuit” cards over the past year.“As an initial step, cash transactions with magnetic-strip cards will not be available at about 50 percent of ATMs at financial

Sales at both major discount outlet chains and department stores in South Korea dropped in December from a year earlier, reflecting worsening consumer sentiment, the government said Wednesday.The combined sales of the country’s three major discount outlet chains ― Lotte Mart, E-Mart and Home plus ― dropped 5 percent on-year in December, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.This compares with a 3.7 percent on-year gain in December 2011, and also with a 1.7 percent on-year drop in Novemb

LED screens are expected to become dominant in the global television market starting next year as the world’s two top television makers ― Samsung and LG ― are poised to stop producing LCD panel TVs in North America this year to focus on LED. LG Electronics had already expressed such plans at the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas earlier this month. Recently, Samsung also said it would be suspending the production of LCD panels in Mexico, Hungary, Slovakia and others. In particular, the

Transition team seeks to strengthen skills in designing and negotiating processes for a trade pact

Samsung Electronics Co. asked a U.S. judge to allow it to use documents from its patent-infringement case against Apple Inc. in California for litigation pending between the companies in Japan.Samsung told U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal in San Jose, California, today that it needs information exchanged between the companies in his court to contest the validity of Apple’s patents at issue in cases pending in Japan.Samsung seeks any documents concerning iPhone sales before June 29, 2007, as wel

South Korean stocks dropped 0.81 percent Wednesday as investors took to the sidelines ahead of releases of fourth-quarter earnings of big-name companies, analysts said. The local currency fell sharply against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 16.11 points to finish at 1,980.41. Trading volume was moderate at 485.7 million shares worth 4.16 trillion won (US$3.9 billion) with losers outnumbering winners 500 to 300."Investors remain cautious to see how lar

South Korea is ready to deal with the local currency's rapid rise that may be caused by quantitative easing moves by the United States and Japan, Seoul's top economic policymaker said Wednesday."Measures have been prepared," Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan told reporters, though he declined to elaborate on details.He also vowed to make efforts to ease currency fluctuations, a key factor in Asia's fourth-largest economy where exports account for about 57 percent of the country's gross domestic prod

South Korean stocks traded a modest 0.04 percent higher late Wednesday morning led by gains in large-cap exporters, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.71 points to 1,997.23 as of 11:20 a.m.Techs led the rise, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics adding 0.81 percent and LG Electronics, the country's second-largest home appliances maker, climbing 0.39 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor gained 2.1 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors rose 1.1

Police said Tuesday that they plan to punish about 10 senior officials of food and medicine manufacturer CJ CheilJedang for allegedly giving illegal kickbacks worth of 4.5 billion won ($4.2 million) to more than 200 doctors.Some officials from CJ CheilJedang are suspected of offering kickbacks to about 210 doctors for about two years since May 2010 in exchange for prescribing its products, according to police. The government last year declared a war against the long-running illegal practice in t