HONG KONG ― South Korean securities firms’ investment in China rose nearly six-fold on-year in the first half of this year due to China’s growing importance as the world’s No. 2 economy, Seoul’s financial regulators said Monday.Investments made in mainland China by South Korean brokerages totaled 197.8 billion won ($ 31.1 billion) as of the end of June, up 598.9 percent from the previous year, said Financial Supervisory Service officials in Hong Kong.The tally includes money spent on purchasing

South Korean banks need to strengthen their balance sheets through more deleveraging in order to survive a set of new global capital requirements, a former Basel committee official said Monday. “Complex securities and derivatives are proven less profitable for banks ... they need to turn to another direction and deleverage their balance sheets and comply with the Basel requirements,” Nout Wellink, the former chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), said an interview with Yo

Former JU Group CEO owes most in unpaid taxesThe National Tax Service on Monday revealed a list of 1,313 tax dodgers, with their names made public via the Internet for the first time here.Names on the list, including 686 individuals and 627 corporate bodies, failed to pay taxes of 700 million won ($615,000) or more over the past two years. The taxation agency said the number of tax dodgers decreased by more than half compared to last year’s 2,797, while the amount of unpaid taxes declined from 5

The Bank of Korea chose one of its own officials to manage the nation’s $311 billion in foreign- exchange reserves after its first public recruitment campaign for the job.Choo Heung-sik, currently director at the bank’s Reserve Management Group, will replace Hong Taeg-ki as the group’s director-general, the central bank said on Monday. The decision followed the central bank’s announcement in September the three-year position will be open to both central bank officials and outsiders, with work ex

South Korea’s household credit rose to near 900 trillion won ($789.5 billion) in the third quarter, but quarterly growth slowed on the regulator’s move to curb home debt, the central bank said Monday.Household credit totaled a record 892.5 trillion won as of the end of September, up 16.2 trillion won from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).Third-quarter growth slowed from the 18.9 trillion won on-quarter expansion tallied in the second quarter, but the aggregate household

Ssangyong Motor Co., South Korea‘s smallest carmaker, announced Monday the launch of its flagship luxury sedan for the first time in China, as the company moves to expand into the world’s largest auto market.The Chairman W, which is on display at the ninth annual Guangzhou International Motor Show, will officially go on sale Tuesday, the carmaker said.The CW700 limousine features a 3.6-liter XGi3600 engine and carries a price tag of around 120 million won ($105,200), Ssangyong said, adding it is

Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., South Korea’s state-run deposit insurer, is pushing to float up to 14 trillion won ($12 billion) worth of unsecured bonds in a bid to brace for an overhaul of savings banks, financial sources said Monday.KDIC plans to issue 300 billion won worth of unsecured bonds every week starting next month in a bid to prepare funds totaling 14 trillion won, according to the sources.The move is expected to help government efforts to salvage the fragile sector.In March, a specia

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister said Monday that there is a need to take measures to lessen the fallout from excessive cross-border capital flows in order to help the global economy move forward.Speaking at a forum arranged by the Asian Development Bank and the Institute fo

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. Charged guilty, the case be a major blow to their balance sheet where the fines could add up to several h

The telecommunication market for overseas Koreans will see a boost in sales as more of them want to stay connected to their roots, an industry report concluded Sunday. According to DigiEco, a KT Corp.-affiliated think tank, the telecom market for overseas Koreans is expected to reach 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion) by 2015, a 36 percent increase from 1.1 trillion won this year. The report, which analyzed the influence of 90 million overseas Koreans in the IT sector, found the market for mobile p

A water purifier commercial has become the latest source of tension between LG and Woongjin over air purifiers and cosmetics.Woongjin Coway requested LG Electronics to stop airing its Healthcare water filter commercial, accusing it of slandering Woongjin products.The LG television commercial says: “Water put in a plastic tank is for washing, not drinking.”LG Electronics water purifiers use water tanks made of stainless steel, while Woongjin’s are fitted with plastic tanks.“The use of the express