The Korea Herald

BOK chief downplays risks of household debt

Mar 13, 2014

Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo claimed Thursday that it was undesirable for monetary policymakers to seek interest-rate cuts to resolve the country’s household debt problems.The remarks from the outgoing central bank chief came after the BOK’s rate-setting committee kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 2.5 percent per annum on the day, which marked a freeze of 10 months in a row.“Though some (low-income) brackets have shouldered the burden of rising interest costs, it is still not appropriate
KOSPI’s sluggishness swells long-short funds

Mar 13, 2014

South Korean stock investors, fed up waiting for the KOSPI index to recapture its 2011 record high, are plowing cash into funds that can make money no matter which way the market is headed.Long-short funds, which bet on both rising and falling shares, have grown their assets more than ninefold in the past year to 2 trillion won ($1.9 billion), even as the nation’s equity funds shrank, according to Seoul-based researcher KG Zeroin Co. Individuals pulled $22 billion from stocks since the KOSPI’s a
Korean tax authorities to oversee U.S. accounts

Mar 13, 2014

Starting next year, the National Tax Service will gain direct access to information on accounts owned by Korean nationals in the United States based on an incoming bilateral taxation convention.With this expanded scope of information, the tax office hopes to add momentum to its overseas network and tighten its grip over potential offshore tax evasion.The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Thursday that the Korean and U.S. governments are currently holding negotiations for a bilateral taxation
BOK freezes key rate for 10th month for March

Mar 13, 2014

South Korea's central bank froze the key interest rate for the 10th-straight month on Thursday at the last rate-setting meeting for its outgoing chief as the local economy is improving amid tame inflation.Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo and his six fellow policymakers held the benchmark seven-day repo rate, called the base rate, at 2.5 percent as widely expected.The March meeting marked the last rate-setting session for Gov. Kim as his four-year term expires at the end of this month. Lee Ju-ye
Korea's jobless rate jumps in Feb., job creation also quickens

Mar 12, 2014

South Korea's jobless rate jumped in February, but job creation increased at the fastest pace in 12 years, indicating that more people came out to look for work amid signs that the economy is recovering, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the jobless rate stood at 4.5 percent last month, up from 3.5 percent in January. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate also rose from 3.2 percent to 3.9 percent.Job creation quickened sharply. The number of employe
Eximbank chief takes office despite union protest

Mar 11, 2014

The new CEO of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea has at last managed to get through the front doors of his office to take up his disputed post. Lee Duk-hoon was inaugurated as the head of Eximbank on Tuesday after a days-long tug-of-war with the labor union, which refused to recognize him as chief executive. The main reason was that the union wanted a man from within the bank. As head of a government-run institution, the CEO of Eximbank guarantees both money and status, as he or she auto
Korea to partially lift Iran sanctions

Mar 11, 2014

Some sectors of South Korea’s business industry will be allowed to resume trading with Iran as policymakers have decided to partly lift a ban on exports to the Middle Eastern country on March 17.The Finance Ministry said Tuesday that it decided on the policy ― restrictive and will apply only for some service industries ― following the U.S. administration’s recent easing of economic sanctions on Iran for six months between Jan. 20 and July 20 this year.The ministry said the beneficiaries of the c
Farms minister mulls opening of rice market

Mar 11, 2014

South Korea’s agriculture minister said on Tuesday that the ministry is mulling ways to protect local farmers in preparation for a possible opening of the Korean rice market.“We are now under high pressure to open up the (rice) market,” Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Minister Lee Dong-phil said at a press meeting, adding that a decision will be reached in June.The announcement came on the same day that Korea and Canada finally signed a long-delayed free-trade deal. The two countries initiall
Carlyle sees big buyouts in Korea after largest since 2008

Mar 11, 2014

Carlyle Group LP, which completed South Korea’s biggest private-equity buyout in five years, sees more large transactions as the nation sustains its economic growth amid emerging-market turbulence.The buyout firm, the Asian investments of which span budget hotels to injectable drugs, agreed to buy Tyco International Ltd.’s fire-alarm business in Korea for $1.93 billion earlier this month. Preqin Ltd. data show buyouts backed by private equity rose 65 percent to $4.3 billion in 2013, the most sin
BOK to freeze key rate for 10th month in March: poll

Mar 11, 2014

South Korea's central bank is expected to freeze the key interest rate for the 10th consecutive month for March as the local economy is recovering amid tame inflation, a poll showed Tuesday.All 14 analysts surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, forecast that the Bank of Korea will leave the benchmark seven-day repo rate unchanged at 2.5 percent on Thursday.The March meeting will mark the last rate-setting session for Gov. Kim Choong-soo as his four-year term ex
FSC to raise penalties for personal data misuse

Mar 10, 2014

Financial companies, when found responsible for a massive personal data leak, will face a fine of up to 3 percent of their total annual sales and customers will be given the right to order the firms to erase their personal information, according to the nation’s financial regulator.Despite these new regulations, however, experts and civic groups continued to express dissatisfaction, claiming that the financial authorities’ plan lacked effective penalties and compensation methods.The Financial Ser
Seoul shares drop 1 percent on China data, Ukraine woes

Mar 10, 2014

South Korean stocks dropped 1.03 percent on Monday on concerns over weaker-than-expected data from China and continued instability in Ukraine, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 20.26 points to 1,954.42. Trading volume was moderate at 207 million shares worth 3.35 trillion won ($3.14 billion), and losers outnumbered gainers 494 to 311.China, South Korea’s largest trading partner, said over the weekend that its expor
Stock trading via mobile devices on sharp rise

Mar 10, 2014

Stock transactions via mobile devices have continued to rise sharply as more retail investors have opted to use their smartphones and tablet PCs for stock trading, the bourse operator said Monday.Stock trading via mobile gadgets made up for some 25 percent of the total transactions on the country’s main bourse last month, compared with 21 percent tallied a year earlier, according to the Korea Exchange.Comparable figures for 2012 and 2011 were 14.45 percent and 7.55 percent, the data showed.The m
Inequality threatens Korea’s growth: report

Mar 10, 2014

South Korea is among the few Asian countries showing signs of slower growth due to rising inequality, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank Institute.Twelve countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Korea, China and Indonesia, have experienced growing income inequality between 1990 and 2010, according to the report.The study, entitled “Rising Inequality in Asia and Policy Implications,” released in February, is based on the countries’ Gini coefficient between 1990 and 2010.The
Financial firms to face heavy penalty for data leaks, clients can prevent sharing of personal info

Mar 10, 2014

Financial firms will be slapped with fines amounting to 3 percent of their annual sales when responsible for a massive leak of personal data, and clients will be given an option to revoke their consent to providing their private information, the country's financial regulator said Monday.Also, financial firms will be required to delete clients' data upon termination of financial transactions during a given grace period and barred from sharing the data with their affiliates beyond a set limit, acc