The default rate of corporate bills in South Korea dipped in September compared with the previous month when the figure soared to the highest level in more than three years, central bank data showed Tuesday.The default rate of corporate bills -- bonds, checks and promissory notes -- reached 0.22 percent last month, compared with 0.28 percent in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).The central bank credited the on-month decline to a fall in defaults of cash-strapped conglomerates Tong Yan

South Korea's bourse operator Korea Exchange said Monday that it has approved Cheil Industries Inc.'s plan to list its shares on the local main stock market. The de facto holding firm of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group had filed for an initial public offering on Sept. 19. Cheil Industries, formerly known as Samsung Everland Co., earlier had said it plans to go public by the first quarter of 2015. Lee Kun-hee, chairman of the group's flagship Samsung Electronics Co., his only son Jay

South Korean currency and stocks have been the worst performers among emerging markets in Asia this month amid concerns of a slow economic recovery and a set of negative external factors, market data showed Sunday.According to the data, the South Korean won tumbled 2.06 percent against the greenback over the past 17 days, the largest drop among the currencies of seven emerging markets in Asia.Malaysia came next with a 0.4 percent drop in the value of its currency against the dollar, followed by

The head of financially troubled Tong Yang Group, the nation’s 38th largest company, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday for selling financial products he knew would yield little or no returns, while thousands of investors’ livelihoods had depended on them.Hyun Jae-hyun, 65, was found guilty of ordering Tong Yang affiliates to issue 1.3 billion won ($1.2 million) worth of corporate bonds and commercial papers between February and September of last year, even though he knew the companie

South Korean stocks lost ground Thursday as weak U.S. economic data caused investors to re-evaluate overall market conditions. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. Starting the day on the minus side, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index recouped some losses, yet ended at 1,918.83, down 0.37 percent, or 7.08 points, from Wednesday’s closeTrading volume was moderate at 300.98 million shares worth 4.42 trillion won ($4.17 billion), with decliners outpacing advancers 469 to 34

Some 1.4 trillion won ($1.39 billion) was embezzled and misappropriated at local financial companies over the past four and a half years, with the largest single amount of misused funds increasing, financial data showed Thursday.Data from the Financial Supervisory Service, submitted to the National Assembly for audit, cited 651 cases of embezzlement, misappropriation and breach of trust by financial corporate officials between 2010 and the first half of 2014.They accounted for 80 percent of the

South Korean companies’ sales growth dropped to the lowest level in more than 10 years as Asia’s fourth-largest economy struggled from slackening domestic demand, central bank data showed Thursday.Sales expanded 2.1 percent in 2013, sharply slowing from 5.1 percent in the previous year, according to a Bank of Korea report that covers 492,288 companies that close their books in the June-December period. The survey does not include nonprofit agencies and financial firms.The 2013 figure marks the l

South Korea’s economy is facing numerous risks, including protracted low growth and low inflation, which requires the government to keep up its efforts to reinvigorate the economy by stimulating consumption and corporate investment, the finance minister said Thursday. “Our economy is confronting the risks of low growth and low inflation as domestic demand recovery is being delayed,” Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said in a parliamentary audit session, adding that external conditions are not fa

Citigroup Korea is dropping its consumer lending unit ― Citigroup Capital Korea ― in a bid to streamline operations, the banking giant said in its third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday.The announcement, however, will not affect Citigroup’s core businesses that include retail banking, credit cards and corporate banking, the company spokesman said in an emailed statement. It also does not indicate that Citibank Korea is pulling out, he added. “Korea will always be one of Citi’s most important m

South Korea’s chief financial regulator on Wednesday denied any shortcomings on his part in dealing with the internal feud at KB Financial Group, the country’s second-biggest banking group by market value, and rejected speculation that there was external pressure.Former KB Financial Chairman Lim Young-rok and Kookmin Bank President Lee Kun-ho both stepped down after ugly bickering over changing the company’s computer system since May led to a reprimand.The case was first handled by the Financial

South Korea's government bonds advanced Wednesday, pushing the yield of three-year Treasury bonds near a yearly low as the Bank of Korea (BOK) cut its base rate twice in three months to support growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy.   The yield on the benchmark three-year Treasurys stood at 2.236 percent in the morning session, down 4.2 basis points from the previous session's close. The yield on five-year Treasurys also fell 4.5 basis points to 2.451 percent.  The comparable figure for 10-yea