South Korean companies sought fewer merger and acquisitions amid increased economic uncertainty last year, but foreign firms were aggressive in acquiring local IT and entertainment firms, the nation’s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday.The Fair Trade Commission said it received reports of 646 M&A deals worth 593.6 trillion won ($521.3 billion) last year. The number of deals went down by 23 compared to the previous year but the deal value was up by 55 percent mainly due to the M&As of Korean firms

A growing number of South Koreans used Internet banking services last year due mainly to the widespread use of smartphones, a survey showed Wednesday.The ratio of South Koreans aged above 12 who used Internet banking services stood at 57.5 percent in 2016, up 5.0 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the survey.(Yonhap)The 2016 figure represents a substantial hike from 2004, when 31.6 percent of South Koreans used Internet banking service.The number of Internet banking service user

South Korea's state financial watchdog said Wednesday the number of people using its financial information portal service has exceeded 1.3 million just half a year after its opening.The Financial Supervisory Service opened the Financial Information Network, http://fine.fss.or.kr, on Sept. 1, 2016. (Yonhap)It is designed to offer information on financial transactions here, especially via major search engines, such as Naver and Daum."It has the ultimate purpose of resolving the information divide

Daily credit card spending in South Korea hit a record high in 2016, data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that credit cards are one of the most convenient payment tools.Credit card holders in South Korea spent an average of 1.68 trillion won ($1.4 billion) a day in 2016, up 10.9 percent from 1.51 trillion won a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The 2016 figure is the highest since 2003 when the central bank started collecting data.Meanwhile, debit ca

The South Korean government said Tuesday it recouped 2.24 trillion won ($2 billion) of bailout funds, mostly used to help financial companies reeling from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, in the fourth quarter of last year.The retrieval of taxpayers' money came mostly from the sale of Woori Bank, a major lender here, according to the Financial Services Commission. The headquarters of Woori Bank in central Seoul. (Yonhap)The state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp.  sold its 29.7-percent stake

South Korea’s state pension fund said its annual investment return inched up by 0.18 percent to 4.75 percent in 2016 from a year earlier.According to the National Pension Service, the size of its fund swelled to 558.29 trillion won ($493.74 billion) as of the end of 2016, up 9 percent from 512.3 trillion won a year earlier. NPS in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province. (Yonhap)Out of its total assets, 557.7 trillion won is being managed in the financial sector. More than half of the fund, or 50.7 percen

South Korean institutions' investment in overseas securities jumped 43 percent on-year in 2016, driven by the growth of bond purchases by insurers and asset management firms, central bank data showed Tuesday.The amount of stocks and bonds held by local institutional investors came to $173.7 billion as of the end of last year, up $52.2 billion from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea . A pile of US banknotes in a file photo. (Yonhap)"It's mainly attributable to a surge in new investmen

South Korea's central bank said Tuesday it will maintain an accommodative monetary policy amid concerns about the pace of the US rate hike.Speaking to lawmakers, Bank of Korea  Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said it won't rush to raise the country's benchmark rates even if the US increases its own rates again. Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol attends a parliamentary committee meeting in Seoul on Feb. 28, 2017. (Yonhap)"The principle of an interest rate policy is an accommodative operation, but it does not neces

The state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. will open a branch office in Cambodia next month to help retrieve property assets owned by shuttered South Korean savings banks, KDIC officials said Tuesday. Seven savings banks, including Jeil Savings Bank and Tomato Savings Bank, were suspended in 2011 after they grappled with bad assets due to deteriorating construction loans. This photo shows a protest in 2012 by customers of a shuttered savings bank. (Yonhap file photo)Some of the shuttered saving

KB Securities Co., a major South Korean brokerage firm, is pushing for the sale of an asset management unit, industry sources said Monday.KB was born through a merger of Hyundai Securities Co. and KB Investment & Securities Co. early this year. KB also absorbed Hyundai Asset Management as an affiliate. (Yonhap)KB initially considered retaining the asset management company, which is known for real estate and special asset management, in tandem with KB Asset Management Co., according to the source

The delinquency rate of domestic banks' won-denominated loans edged up in January from a month earlier, South Korea's financial watchdog said Monday.The delinquency rate for bank loans came to 0.53 percent in January, up from 0.47 percent in December, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. (Yonhap)The rate stood at 0.81 percent in October and 0.64 percent in November.The delinquency rate of loans extended to large firms stood at 0.71 percent in January, down 0.06 percentage point from a

South Korea's Internet banking service rose at a fast clip in 2016 with the number of daily transactions and its value reaching record highs, central bank data showed Monday.The number of Internet and mobile banking service users came to 122.54 million in 2016, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The number is the sum of all registered users of 16 Internet and mobile banking service providers in South Korea, including commercial banks.The ave

SK Group, South Korea's No. 3 conglomerate, has largely benefited from mergers and acquisitions pushed by the group's holding firm, SK Holdings Co., in the chipmaking and biotech sectors, industry sources said Monday.SK Materials Co., a semiconductor materials company taken over by SK Holdings, reported record-high earnings last year to serve as the crown jewel of the group, they said. (Yonhap)SK Materials said it reported 461.4 billion won ($407.2 million) in sales and 154.1 billion won in oper

The daily foreign exchange turnover by local and foreign banks in South Korea dropped 0.1 percent in 2016 from a year earlier, the central bank said Monday.The daily FX turnover averaged $48.38 billion in 2016, down from $48.43 billion in 2015, according to the Bank of Korea.(Yonhap)The daily trading volume of foreign exchange spots reached $19.43 billion in 2016, down 2.7 percent from a year earlier.By currency type, the daily dollar-won trading volume came to $14.52 billion in 2016 while the d

Korean stocks are the most undervalued in the world, being cheaper than not only those in advanced countries but also emerging economy shares, according to local experts Sunday.According to data from Samsung Securities and local reports, the previous 12-month price-earnings ratio in the domestic stock market was 9.6-to-1, much lower than the averages of the MSCI’s emerging and advanced market indexes.  (123RF)The price-earnings ratio is the ratio for valuing a company by measuring its current sh