Some lawmakers are set to pound on the Bank of Korea for allegedly tracing the IP addresses of employees who badmouthed executives including Governor Kim Choong-soo on the bank’s internal online message board.The BOK had sought to hunt down staff members who wrote critically of the governor’s remarks during an internal meeting and the exceptional working conditions for Deputy Governor Kim Jun-il, and take legal action against them.The central bank took issue with two more postings that contained

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Global investment bank JPMorgan on Monday played down the possibility of South Korean financial firms’ rigging of interest rates on certificates of deposit, saying they may have had limited benefits from it.Korea’s Fair Trade Commission launched last week a probe into Kookmin Bank, the country’s largest lender, and eight other banks as well as 10 major brokerages over alleged CD rate rigging. JPMorgan said in a report that banks and brokers would have a limited benefit

The default rate on loans extended by South Korean insurers moved up in May from a month earlier mainly due to a rise in overdue household and corporate loans, the financial regulator said Sunday.The average ratio of overdue loans came to 0.83 percent of total lending by local life and non-life insurers, up 0.03 percentage points from the end of April, the Financial Supervisory Service said in a report.The May figure, however, marks a 0.22 percentage point dip from a year earlier when the defaul

South Korean stocks are likely to be locked in range-bound trading this week as investors step to the sidelines over a lack of momentum, analysts said.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.55 percent from a week earlier to finish at 1,822.93 last week, with the market fluctuating most of the week.The main index slumped 27.05 points to 1,794.91 on Wednesday as investor sentiment soured over U.S. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s bleak economic outlook. But it bounced back to the psycho

Credit card installment purchases rose to a 15-year high in the first quarter of this year as households tried to reduce their repayment burden in the face of mounting debt, a report showed Sunday.The Credit Finance Association of Korea report showed 17.4 percent of all card purchases made in the January-March period were installments, the highest reached since 19.2 percent tallied for the whole of 1997, when the country was rocked by the Asian financial crisis.Reflecting this, credit card firms

Hana Financial Group said Sunday it signed an agreement to acquire a 71 percent stake of BNB Financial Services Corporation, a holding company of New York-based Broadway National Bank.The acquisition of the only Korean-American bank that has a national license provides a foothold for Hana to expand sales in North America, the financial group said in a press release.National banks have high consumer trust as they are chartered and supervised by the Office of Comptroller of Currency, an agency und

The debt of South Korea’s public sector rose nearly 10 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier due to increased spending on state projects and government efforts to curb public utility charges, data showed Sunday.The outstanding debt of the government and nonfinancial state-owned corporations came to 842.27 trillion won ($738.5 billion) as of the end of March, up 9.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the finance ministry and the Bank of Korea.The figure

Financial authorities are scheduled to accept preliminary bids for tax money injected Woori Financial Group this Friday.The sale plan for the state-controlled financial company is drawing attention in the market while a group of lawmakers are calling on the Financial Services Commission to postpone the M&A competition for the next administration.Three months ago, the FSC made an official notification of the sale procedure, announcing that it would select preliminary bidders for Woori Financial b

Korean stocks closed nearly flat on Friday as concerns over weak U.S. data slightly outweighed firm gains in technology shares, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar. After a rangebound trading session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slipped 0.03 points to 1,822.93. Trading volume was moderate at 405.6 million shares worth 3.6 trillion won ($3.2 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 404 to 381.“Basically, there was no strong market-driving factor

Korean brokerage houses and other financial investment companies should beef up risk management as uncertainties surrounding the eurozone crisis and the global economic slump are expected to last for some time, the top financial regulator said Friday. “Financial firms need to step up efforts to manage risks as their internal control stands vulnerable to external shocks,” said Kwon Hyouk-se, head of the Financial Supervisory Service.In a meeting with the chief executives of local financial firms,

International lawsuits likely to follow if collusion is foundConcerns about a possible fall in international confidence in Korea’s financial markets are rising after the government launched a probe into alleged collusion by banks and brokerages to rig rates on certificates of deposit earlier this week. Market observers said if allegations of the collusion are found to be true, it may lead foreigners to exit from the nation’s derivatives markets based on CD rates.They also raised the possibility

Consumer groups plan class-action lawsuits, FSC mulls new rate to replace CD rateA brokerage firm admitted after the nation’s antitrust watchdog launched a probe that it colluded with other companies to rig interest rates of certificates of deposit, financial sources said on Thursday. Financial observers said the CD rate-rigging case could develop into a Korean version of the LIBOR or the London Interbank Offered Rate fixing scandal in Britain and have huge ramifications.Under the Fair Trade Com

Korean listed firms sharply reduced their cash dividends paid out to their shareholders this year as growing economic uncertainties have led them to secure capital amid a dim earnings outlook, data showed Thursday. The combined interim cash dividends of six local listed firms that logged their dividend payouts in the regulatory filings stood at 118.4 billion won ($103.6 million) as of June 19, down 57.2 percent from 276.4 billion won a year ago, according to the data compiled by financial inform