The Korea Herald

Foreign insurers urged to warm up for new accounting rules

Oct 28, 2016

South Korea's financial authorities requested foreign insurers here Friday to take "pre-emptive" measures to embrace new accounting standards.Zhin Woong-Seob, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, delivered the message in a breakfast meeting in Seoul with the CEOs of 13 foreign insurance firms operating in the country.He noted that the International Financial Reporting Standards 4 Phase II will be applied to insurers here starting in 2021.Under the rule, their liabilities will be assess
Hyundai Card punished for 'unfair' sale practice: FSS

Oct 27, 2016

South Korea's financial authorities took a punitive measure Thursday against Hyundai Card Co., a major local credit card firm affiliated with the Hyundai Motor Group, for "unfair" sale operations.Hyundai Card infringed on the rights and interests of consumers by unfairly inducing them to change the limit of the "revolving"service from 100 percent to 10 percent according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).Hyundai failed to provide sufficient information on the consequences of the shift in
Political scandal darkens growth prospects

Oct 27, 2016

The so-called “Choi Soon-sil gate,” a political scandal involving President Park Geun-hye, is adding to growing fears of a serious crisis in the Korean economy, with the scandal shaking the sentiments of foreign investors. The scandal is seen impacting not only the financial market but also the real economy that is already trapped in protracted sluggish growth, darkening overall economic outlook for next year. This week alone, the country’s main stock trading index, Kospi, shed 33.85 points as o
HSBC Korea holds English reading event

Oct 27, 2016

HSBC Korea said it held an English book reading event for Korean children at an elementary school in Seoul on Thursday.Kids Read, a reading program developed by the British Council and supported by the bank and Seoul Metropolitan Government, helps children develop English language skills as well as encourages them to read for pleasure, the bank said.At Thursday’s event at Buksung Elementary School, 130 children and 20 teachers participated in the reading program, it said.HSBC’s Korean unit start
Bank lending rates on household loans rebound in Sept.

Oct 27, 2016

Bank lending rates on new household loans rebounded in September for the first time in six months and interest paid by banks on new deposits also increased, central bank data showed Thursday.The average interest rate on fresh household loans extended by local banks came to 3.03 percent last month, up 0.08 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea.The BOK data came a week before the government is set to announce a set of measures to cool the country's housing market
Stocks open higher on bargain hunting

Oct 27, 2016

South Korean stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors attempted to buy oversold shares.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 6.93 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,020.82 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics rising 0.38 percent. Samsung C&T, Samsung's de facto holding firm, lost 0.9 percent.Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.36 percent, and SK hynix was up 0.58 percent on its better-than-expected third-quarter e
Korea ranks 5th in biz environment: World Bank

Oct 26, 2016

South Korea ranked fifth in terms of business environment among 190 countries this year thanks to high scores in electricity supply and legal settlement and administrative systems for starting a business and taxation, a report by the World Bank showed Wednesday (Korean time).According to the organization's annual "Doing Business 2017" ranking report, the country received 84.07 points in total, slightly up from the previous year's 83.88, but fell one notch from a year earlier.Every year, the Worl
[Photo News] For stronger financial ties

Oct 25, 2016

Korea‘s top financial regulators, bank heads and ambassadors of Southeast Asian nations pose for a photo Monday after gathering for dinner to discuss stronger financial ties between Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Participants include (fifth from left in the front row) Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Zhin Woong-seob, Thai Ambassador to Korea Sarun Charoensuwan, Financial Services Commission Chairman Yim Jong-yong, Indonesian Ambassador to Korea John Aristianto Prasetio a
KRX CEO takes aggressive stance on governance

Oct 25, 2016

Korea Exchange will aggressively push for restructuring of the current governance of the stock trading board operator, said its CEO Jeong Chan-woo on Tuesday. At the first press conference since his inauguration early this month, Jeong affirmed his firm determination in carrying out the long-held government plan aimed at boosting the county’s capital market. KRX CEO Jeong Chan-woo speaks at his first press conference, held in Yeouido, western Seoul, Tuesday. (KRX)The governance restructuring has
SK hynix's Q3 profit beats forecast as chip prices rebound

Oct 25, 2016

SK hynix Inc., a South Korean chipmaker, reported a 47.5 percent plunge in its third-quarter operating profit that exceeded expectations, thanks to a steady recovery in memory chip prices.SK hynix said in a regulatory filing that it posted an operating profit of 725.9 billion won ($640.6 million) for the July-September quarter. The result beat expectations. The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, forecast that SK hynix would post an
Lotte units move to resume debt sales

Oct 25, 2016

Some Lotte Group units are seeking to raise funds by selling bonds after the prosecution concluded a probe into the owner family's alleged wrongdoing that rocked the retail giant, market watchers said Tuesday. Wrapping up a grueling four-month investigation last week, prosecutors indicted Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, his father and elder brother without detention on charges of embezzlement and other business irregularities. According to sources, Hotel Lotte, a crown jewel of the country's
[Monitor] Debt burden rises among self-employed in 20s, 60s

Oct 24, 2016

Self-employed people in their 20s and 60s face a higher risk of defaulting on loans from financial institutions due to their increased debt burdens, the Korea Institute of Finance said in the report on household debt.The loan-to-income ratio for those in their 20s jumped to 173.9 percent as of May, this year, from 111.6 percent seven years earlier. Those for 60-somethings surged to 286.5 percent from 208.1 percent during the same time period. LTI is the percentage of monthly gross income that go
[Photo News] Decoding future education

Oct 24, 2016

Futurist Thomas Frey, founder of US think tank DaVinci Institute, delivers a keynote speech on decoding future education at an education forum at Coex, southern Seoul, Monday. The forum, hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Ministry of Education, invited software education experts from advanced economies including the US, the UK, New Zealand and Finland to offer insights to Korean teachers and students. (Yonhap)
Korea’s corporate governance still a headache

Oct 24, 2016

Reforms after the 1997 Asian financial crisis improved market regulations in South Korea, however experts insist there is still room for improvement. Government officials, regulators and academics gathered at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Asian Roundtable on corporate governance at a hotel in Seoul on Monday to discuss recent corporate governance developments in Korea.Jung Sun-seop, a professor at Seoul National University School of Law, said recent reforms in marke
[Kosdaq Star] Twice’s comeback helps buoy JYP shares

Oct 24, 2016

This is the 27th in a series of articles analyzing major companies by market capitalization traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed