South Korea’s central bank is expected to freeze the key interest rate for the 12th consecutive month for May amid no clear signs that the economy is recovering, experts said Tuesday.The Bank of Korea has maintained its benchmark seven-day repo rate at 2.5 percent since May last year when it cut the rate by 0.25 percentage point.Experts expect the BOK will keep its stance as there are not many major factors that require a change in monetary policy. More time is also required to gauge the effects

Sales of whiskey products in South Korea fell in the first quarter of 2014 from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday, apparently as demand for pricey liquor decreased amid a prolonged economic slump.Whiskey sales reached 431,455 boxes in the January-March period, down 4.3 percent from the 450,934 boxes tallied a year ago, industry data showed. A box contains 18 0.5-liter bottles.Diageo Korea, the South Korean unit of the British liquor company, sold 174,319 boxes during the period, down 3.1 perce

South Korean banks saw their combined net profit from overseas operations shrink 28.8 percent last year from a year earlier due to a drop in interest income amid a global low rates trend, the financial watchdog said Tuesday.Earnings by 152 overseas units and offices of 11 local lenders stood at $450 million in 2013, compared with $640 million in the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The FSS said the weaker bottom line is a result of contracted interest income when int

Amazon wants to make shopping online as easy as a tweet. The online retailer is introducing a service that lets Twitter users add Amazon.com products to their carts without leaving the social media site. The service comes as Amazon seeks to make social media a bigger source for sales. Twitter also has been seeking new revenue streams beyond advertising services like promoted tweets.Under the program, users must link their Amazon.com account with their Twitter account. Then they need to add the h

Another high-ranking General Motors engineer is leaving the company in the wake of its delayed recall of small cars with faulty ignition switches.Jim Federico, who most recently headed safety, vehicle performance and testing labs, is retiring after almost 36 years with the company. GM said he’s leaving on his own to work outside the auto industry.Federico was GM’s highest-ranking executive with safety in his title in February, when the company began recalling 2.6 million older-model small cars t

European investors led by Norway and Switzerland have increased their exposure to South Korean bonds as Korean debts are providing higher returns amid the economic recovery, data showed Monday.Investors from Norway held Korean won-denominated bonds worth5.4 trillion won ($5.25 billion) as of end-March, up 4.7 percent from the end of last year, according to the financial watchdog.Investors from Switzerland also saw their investment in Korean bonds reach 8.2 trillion won, up 16.1 percent from the

The Park Geun-hye administration’s state agenda for setting up an independent board for financial consumer protection has faced a deadlock as the National Assembly chose not to pass the relevant bill during its plenary session in April, opting for further deliberation with government officials.The state-led plan, aimed at bolstering consumers’ rights in the financial market, is designed to split the consumer protection department from the Financial Supervisory Service.Policymakers had expected t

The impact of asset prices and bank lending should be taken into account when calculating the potential economic growth as financial instability tends to amplify the depth of an economic crisis, a central bank report showed Friday.The report from the Bank of Korea said that there is the need to calculate the potential GDP by including financial factors such as asset prices and bank lending as the output gap could be miscalculated when inflation remains low.The output gap refers to the difference

Unionists at Citibank Korea Inc., a local unit of U.S.-based Citigroup Inc., said Friday they are ready to go on strike to protest branch closures and restructuring plans by the bank management.The 3,200-member union voted earlier this week in favor of a walkout in an overwhelming majority of 91.6 percent. Their strike would be the first at a local bank in three years since the strike at the Standard Chartered Bank Korea in 2011 when unionists protested the introduction of a performance-based ma

The nation’s income gap appears to have widened, touching off concerns over a further thinning of the middle-income bracket, according to data from Statistics Korea on Thursday.The state-run Statistics Korea recently announced a research report on national income distribution calculated using the Wolfson Index, which is a barometer for income level of middle-income earners.The index climbed from 0.254 in 2011 to 0.256 in 2012. The Wolfson Index is a common measure of inequality in which a number

The combined earnings of South Korean banks fell 25.3 percent on-year in the first quarter on contracting interest income and profitability, the Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday.The combined net income of the 18 local banks stood at 1.3 trillion won ($1.26 billion) in the first three months of the year, compared with 1.7 trillion won the previous year, according to nation’s financial watchdog. The fall appeared to be on account of a falling interest rate income triggered by a long str