South Korea's finance minister met with U.S. investors to introduce the country's fiscal policy and reform measures in a bid to boost foreign investment, his office here said Tuesday.In a meeting with officials from global asset management firms including Fidelity and MFS at a hotel in Boston on Monday (US time), Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho explained the current political and economic situation in the South Korean economy and shared views on the global economic outlook, according to the finance m

Two of South Korea's major lenders -- Shinhan and Woori -- are in a full-fledged search for new leaders ahead of their general shareholders' meetings in March.Shinhan Financial Group has gained speed in the process by drawing up a shortlist of candidates to replace its chairman Han Dong-woo, whose term ends in March. The corporate logo of Shinhan Bank in a photo provided by Yonhap News TV (Yonhap)They are Shinhan Bank CEO Cho Yong-byoung, Shinhan Card CEO Wi Sung-ho, Shihan Investment Corp. CEO

South Korea's securities firms have usually advised their customers to buy stocks and appear to be biased against selling in their analysis reports, data showed Tuesday.Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. and 17 other brokerage companies here have not suggested selling at all over the past three years, only nudging people to buy shares. The building of Mirae Asset Daewoo Co., South Korea's largest brokerage firm by capital base (Yonhap)The practice raises doubts about any substantial help to investors seekin

Samsung Electronics shares are still undervalued despite days of record-breaking price climbs, given the tech firm's operating profit and product marketability, leading asset managers said in their outlook Tuesday.Samsung Electronics released its 2016 fourth-quarter performance estimate Friday that forecast 9.2 trillion won ($7.64 billion) in operational profit, up 76.92 percent from the prior quarter and 49.84 percent up on-year. The estimate, if confirmed, would be an earnings surprise that ex

A consortium led by Mirae Asset Financial Group and UK-based investment firm Castlepines clinched a deal to finance more than 1 trillion won ($830 million) to build an oceans tourism resort complex at Gyeongdo in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, Mirae Asset Global Investments said Monday.Park Hyeon-joo, chairman of Mirae Asset, signed an investment contract with South Jeolla Province Gov. Lee Nak-yon and Yeosu Mayor Ju Cheol-hyeon at the southwestern province’s office, the asset management company

South Korea’s financial regulator recently allowed a subsidiary of real estate services provider Savills Korea to enter the asset management market and operate real estate private equity funds, a government official said Monday.Savills Investment Korea, a wholly owned subsidiary of Savills Korea, was established in 2014 to provide investment advice to individual investors.“The tentatively named Savills Investment Korea was registered as of Jan. 2 at the Financial Supervisory Service to run priva

South Korea's major securities companies are rushing to launch larger branches in Seoul in a bid to reduce costs and offer one-stop broader services.NH Investment & Securities Co., the No. 2 brokerage firm here by capital base, will open the NH Finance Plus finance center this week in Samsung-dong, located in the affluent Gangnam area, south of the Han River. This composite file photo shows buildings and corporate logos of South Korea's brokerage firms. (Yonhap)NH has consolidated three smaller

Idle money has grown sharply in South Korea, parked for proper investments in the stock market as investors remain cautious about risk-on assets, data showed Monday.The volume of money sitting idle around the local equity market exceeded 107 trillion won ($88.8 billion) as of the end of 2016 according to the Bank of Korea and the Korea Financial Investment Association.  This composite photo from Yonhap News TV refers to floating capital. (Yonhap)It includes 21.8 trillion won of investors' deposi

South Korea’s finance chief will assure overseas investors about the country’s solid economic fundamentals when he visits the United States this week ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in mid-January, the Finance Ministry said Sunday.Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho will hold a road show for some 120 overseas investors in New York on Wednesday to explain South Korea's solid fundamentals represented by current account surpluses, stable foreign exchange reserves and further room f

Japan’s decision to suspend talks on a currency swap last Friday will have limited impact while caution is still advised, according to economists and experts. Song In-chang, deputy finance minister, played down a possible repercussion of the suspension of the bilateral currency swap deal, saying that “It wouldn’t have much impact as it is not like an existing program ended.” Sung Tae-yun, economics professor at Yonsei University said, “It is very unlikely that th

Brendan Carney, head of consumer banking at Citibank Korea, speaks during an interview with The Korea Herald at his office in central Seoul on Dec. 27. (Yoon Byung-chan/The Korea Herald)As banking becomes more mobile and branchless, it is also to bring a change in the way people perceive traditional banking services, and Citibank has introduced a new maintenance fee system to encourage consumers to adopt faster to the new trend, according to Brendan Carney, head of consumer banking of Citibank K

Financial institutions in South Korea are moving to reinforce education for the young.The Financial Supervisory Service last week launched an online board game service to encourage children’s financial education. The FSS developed the board game last February, and this time, offered the game’s PC version in the hope of reaching out to a wider range of students.The game, “Exciting Financial Journey,” is aimed at students in elementary and middle school. There are several options available accordi

A consortium led by Kakao Corp. on Friday applied for the government's approval for its plan to establish an Internet-only bank.Kakao Bank submitted the application to the Financial Services Commission to start business. If approved, it would become the nation's second full-time digital bank after K-Bank led by KT Corp.The envisioned lender to be headquartered in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, has nine shareholders including Kakao Corp., the operator of the mobile chat app Kakao Talk, and KB Kookmin

South Korea's exchange traded notes market grew sharply in size in 2016, but it still leaves much to be desired "in quality," the nation's stock market operator said Friday.The market size has grown to 3.4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) from 1.9 trillion won in 2015 in terms of total asset issuance, as the number of listed products jumped to 132 from 78, according to the Korea Exchange.  A image of the exchange-traded note market in an undated file photo (Yonhap)The daily average turnover rose 85 p

Barings said Friday it has named its Korean unit’s sales head Bae In-su the new CEO of the company.Bae replaces former CEO Kwharg Thae-surn, who retired at the end of December.Before joining Barings’ Korean unit in 2011, Bae worked at Hanwha Securities and AB Asset Management. Bae has a Master of Business Administration from the Columbia Business School of Columbia University in New York.Assets under the management of Barings’ Korean unit exceeded 10 trillion won ($8.42 billion) as of December,