Los Angeles (Yonhap) -- Hana Financial Group Inc.,South Korea's No. 4 banking group, said Saturday that it is pushingto acquire a Korean American commercial bank in the United Statesas part of its bid to accelerate expansion abroad.   The move comes as Hana Financial Group see

Korea’s central bank is expected to stand pat on its key interest rate in the first quarter as murky economic situations and a membership transition in the rate-setting committee is likely to spur a wait-and-see stance, analysts said Friday.The benchmark seven-day repo rate currently stands at 3.25 percent after the Bank of Korea froze the rate for the seventh consecutive month in January, citing increasing downside growth risks stemming from the eurozone debt crisis.The forecast contrasts with

Korea will intensify its efforts to nurture more small and mid-sized exporting companies to help the nation’s annual trade volume exceed $2 trillion by 2020, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.Korea’s trade volume topped $1 trillion in early December for the first time in its history, making the country the world’s ninth to have ever reached the $1-trillion mark in trade.According to the ministry, the government plans to foster 20,000 more small and mid-sized exporters by 2020 through programs ai

Lotte Group on Friday replaced the chief executives of about 10 subsidiaries, naming its home shopping arm chief as the head of its department store operator.Lotte Home Shopping CEO Shin Heon was appointed CEO of Lotte Department Store, succeeding Lee Chul-woo who will take charge of the conglomerate’s external affairs.Kim Yong-su, senior vice president and CEO of Lotte Samkang, was promoted to executive vice president and CEO of Lotte Confectionery, replacing Kim Sang-hoo. KP Chemical CEO Huh S

The nation’s antitrust watchdog said Friday it will probe five major coffee shop chains, including Caffe Bene, over allegations of unfair treatment of franchises. The Fair Trade Commission plans to begin the inquiry in April, and focus on unfair practices by the headquarters such as forcing franchises to pay for interior renewals.“We received reports on unfair practices by some of the coffee shop chain headquarters,” an FTC official said.“We plan to launch a sweeping inquiry to help franchise ow

POSCO said Friday its net profit last year dropped 11.6 percent to 3.7 trillion won ($3.3 billion) on raw material price hikes and the weak domestic currency despite record sales.The steelmaker said its operating profit fell only 0.3 percent from a year ago to 5.41 trillion won as it increased the use of lower-priced raw materials and recycling of by-products.POSCO’s steel production last year hit its highest point ever at 37.32 million tons, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier` as new productio

Ministry’s excluding KDB from list of public agencies ignites pros and consThe government’s recent decision to exclude KDB Financial Group from the list of public corporations has paved the way for the lender to speed up its privatization project, financial sources said.In late January, the Finance Ministry took the state-run financial group off the yearly list of public agencies.But the government’s policy, which has paved the way for KDB Financial to push for a stake sale, is inviting contradi

Seoul shares barely budged before the 2,000 mark level Friday as mixed economic data and weaker-than-expected earnings undermined investor sentiment. Analysts projected the benchmark KOSPI to stay above the 2,000 level next week under the scenario that the U.S. jobs indicator continues to improve. The KOSPI lost 0.6 percent to close at 1,972.34, ending a relatively stable week after a three day winning streak. The junior KOSDAQ gained 0.1 percent to 522.59. The local currency traded flat, gainin

Hynix Semiconductor said Thursday it will inject 4.2 trillion won in facility investments this year, up 20 percent from last despite the unfavorable market conditions in the semiconductor industry.Kwon Oh-chul, chief executive of Hynix, said the firm will spend up to 60 percent on NAND Flash memory, used in smartphones and tablet PCs, whereas it spent about 70 percent of facility investments in DRAM last year.“NAND Flash demand will be driven by mobiles and Solid State Drive notebooks,” he said

Major foreign investment banks predicted that South Korea’s industrial output will likely remain weak for some time, citing less demand for its products caused by the toughening external market conditions, a report showed Thursday.Korea’s industrial output grew 2.8 percent in December from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.8 percent gain in November.It shrank 0.9 percent on-month in December, marking the third straight month that production declined.Foreign IBs said that the sluggish global shipy

Foreign investors snapped up a record amount of South Korean stocks on a monthly basis in January amid signs of recovery in the U.S. economy and easing global uncertainties, the financial watchdog said Thursday.Overseas investors bought a net 6.2 trillion won ($5.5 billion) of local stocks last month, compared with a net purchase of 113.4 billion won in December, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The figure marks a new record high for monthly purchases.Overseas investors offloaded 9