Major foreign investment banks predicted that South Korea’s industrial output will likely remain weak for some time, citing less demand for its products caused by the toughening external market conditions, a report showed Thursday.Korea’s industrial output grew 2.8 percent in December from a year earlier, slowing from a 5.8 percent gain in November.It shrank 0.9 percent on-month in December, marking the third straight month that production declined.Foreign IBs said that the sluggish global shipy

Foreign investors snapped up a record amount of South Korean stocks on a monthly basis in January amid signs of recovery in the U.S. economy and easing global uncertainties, the financial watchdog said Thursday.Overseas investors bought a net 6.2 trillion won ($5.5 billion) of local stocks last month, compared with a net purchase of 113.4 billion won in December, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The figure marks a new record high for monthly purchases.Overseas investors offloaded 9

Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rose to a five-month high in January as the stronger euro and other non-dollar currencies increased the conversion value of those assets, the central bank said Thursday.The country’s foreign reserves reached $311.34 billion last month, up $4.94 billion from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The January foreign reserves stood at the second highest level in history since the foreign reserves hit a record high $312.19 billion in August of 2011. It

Korean stocks rose 1.28 percent Thursday as investor sentiment was buoyed by eased eurozone debt concerns, analysts said. The local currency climbed against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 25.06 points to close at 1,984.3. Trading volume was heavy at 625.8 million shares worth 8.6 trillion won ($7.7 billion) with gainers outnumbering losers 536 to 284.“Good news from Europe removed some of the biggest worries for investors,” said market analyst Kwak Jung-bo

On the first page in its Nov. 30, 2011 edition, The Korea Herald, citing financial sources, reported that Financial Services Commission (FSC) chief Kim Seok-dong pushed ahead with the decision to impose a “mild sanction” on Lone Star Funds despite some working-level officials’ resistance.But it was not confirmed that FSC chief Kim pushed ahead with the decision and that there was resistance from working-level officials. We hereby correct the article. This correction was mediated by The Press Arb

Korean credit card companies’ assets have grown to alarming levels due to their proliferating competition, industry data showed Wednesday, raising the specter of a bubble.The total assets of credit card firms stood at 79.3 trillion won ($70.4 billion) as of the end of 2011, surpassing the 78.9 trillion won tallied in 2003, a year after the country’s economy was hard-hit by a credit card bubble, according to the data. Their assets dropped as low as 65 trillion won in 2008, but soon rebounded by n

Sharp rise in credit loans in non-banking sector raises alarm bellsThe amount of loans extended by Korea’s savings banks to households topped 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) in 2011. Preliminary data from the Financial Supervisory Service indicates that savings banks, hurt by a string of scandals last year, are moving back toward risky lending. It is the first time that the outstanding loans by savings banks to local households surpassed 10 trillion won ― a sharp increase from 7 trillion won in O

The labor union of Korea Exchange Bank filed an injunction to block financial regulators’ recent approval of Hana Financial Group’s takeover of KEB.“We filed the injunction with the Constitutional Court late Jan. 31,” a KEB union leader said Thursday.He said unionized workers are discussing whether

South Korea has taken three state-owned financial groups off the list of public institutions, paving the way for their privatization process, the finance ministry said Tuesday.KDB Financial Group, the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) were taken off the list of publ

Employee salaries at Korea Exchange Bank, Korea’s fifth-largest lender, were the highest among the country’s six largest banks, industry data showed Tuesday. KEB paid an average of 51.7 million won ($45,858) to its employees during the first three quarters of 2011, the highest among South Korea’s six lenders, according to industry data. Hana Bank, the fourth-largest lender in Asia’s No. 4 economy, had the lowest average salary in the same period with 38 million won. Following a regulatory approv