Overseas investors have shown a keen interest in new bonds issued by Hyundai Capital Service Inc., a financial unit of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group, financial sources here said Tuesday.     Hyundai Capital Services successfully raised US$700 million byselling bonds maturing in five-and-a-half years. The bonds carry aninterest rate of 245 basis points above U.S. government debts.      Bookr

   Three banking groups, including top financial firm Woori Finance Holdings Co., have expressed their intention to buy an ailing savings bank, a state insurance agency that arranges the deal and sources said Tuesday.     On Jan. 14, the financial regulator suspended mid-sized SamhwaMutual Savings Bank for six months as it failed to meet regulatorycapital requirements. State-run Korea Deposit Insu

Japanese company sells 8.4m cars in 2010 despite recallsTOKYO (AFP) ― Toyota said Monday its group sales in 2010 rose, enabling the firm to narrowly retain its title as the world’s biggest automaker despite a global safety crisis that damaged its brand image.But analysts warn that after a year that saw the recall of millions of vehicles, a wave of lawsuits and record fines, the company is likely to soon surrender that lead as it battles to regain consumer trust overseas.In 2008 Toyota ended Gene

Korea Line Corp., Korea’s second-largest operator of dry-bulk ships, filed for receivership after rates tumbled to the lowest in almost two years because of a global oversupply of vessels. The filing was made at the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday, the company said in a regulatory statement. It didn’t say how large its debts were. Seven calls to the Seoul-based company, including to its me

LG CNS will become the first South Korean firm to forge a cross-border partnership with a Japanese financial company to provide IT services, the Seoul-based company said Tuesday.With Japan’s SBI Group, LG CNS said it would be forming a joint entity called SBI-LG Systems that would handle all of the IT services related to SBI, a top Japanese financial company with assets worth 13 trillion won ($11.

SK Telecom Co., Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, has reported fourth-quarter profits which climbed 48 percent, helped by demand from smartphone users.Net income rose to 361.4 billion won ($323 million) from 244.2 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in a statement Tuesday. That compares with the 405.4 billion won average of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg in th

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to tighten oversight of local banks’ overseas operations, diverting from its earlier position of eased regulations to encourage their making inroads into foreign markets.The watchdog unveiled this year’s key regulatory policies during its meeting with financial market leaders at the Bankers’ Club in downtown Seoul on Tuesday.Major banks, including the nation

India’s central bank said reducing inflation is the “dominant” goal at the moment, signaling the possibility of an interest-rate increase on Tuesday. “The anti-inflationary focus of monetary policy would have to continue,” the Reserve Bank of India said in a report on Monday. “Since a lower inflation regime is essential for sustainable high growth, containing inflation becomes the dominant policy