The bad debt ratio for South Korean banks’ household loans rose in the third quarter from three months earlier as the economic slowdown and the slumping property markets spurred fresh loan delinquency, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.Local banks’ non-performing household loans accounted for 0.67 percent out of their total lending as of the end of September, up 0.11 percentage point from three months earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The bad loan ratio for bank mortgag

Regulators scramble to draw up measures to control high-risk tradesKorea’s financial derivates market is expected to surpass 30 quadrillion won ($26.6 trillion) this year, data showed on Tuesday, amid growing concerns about huge losses inflicted on retail investors. The strong appetite for high-risk trades of futures, options and equity-linked warrants is now set to boost the total trading volume of derivates to reach 30.35 quadrillion won by the end of the year, according to the Financial Super

South Korea’s import prices rose at the fastest pace in six months in October primarily because the local currency depreciated against the U.S. dollar, the central bank said Tuesday.In local currency terms, the country’s import prices rose 16 percent in October from a year earlier, quickening from the 14 percent on-year gain in September, according to the Bank of Korea.The October data marked the fastest expansion since a 19 percent on-year advance in April, the BOK added.Compared with the previ

South Korean banks’ foreign exchange deposits sharply rose last month as exports remained steady and high currency volatility led companies to buy the dollar, data showed Tuesday.Foreign currency-denominated deposits held by top lender Kookmin Bank and four other banks totaled $17.1 billion as of the end of October, up $2.4 billion or 16.6 percent from a year earlier, according to industry data.The sharp rise came mainly because capital inflows from export income continued and companies snapped

South Korean stocks closed 0.88 percent down Tuesday as Italy’s high borrowing costs underpinned nagging concerns about the eurozone debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined 16.69 points to close at 1,886.12, snapping the second straight session of gains. Trading volume was moderate at 355.8 million shares worth 4.74 trillion won ($4.21 billion) with losers outpacing gainers 543 to 280.“As Europe’s debt p

Lawmakers mount calls for reactivation of plan to sell government-held stakeFinancial authorities are expected to come up with a new plan soon to privatize state-owned Woori Financial Group as calls from politicians for resumption of the stalled sale plan are mounting, sources said Tuesday.Last week, some members of the National Policy Committee of the National Assembly called for Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the biggest shareholder of Woori Financial, to draw up a new plan to sell most of its

South Korea’s terms of trade worsened to the lowest level in nearly three years in the third quarter as on-year gains in oil prices jacked up import costs, the central bank said Monday.The country’s net terms-of-trade index for goods came in at 78.7 in the July-September period, down 9.9 percent from a year earlier, the Bank of Korea said in a report. The third-quarter data marked the lowest level since 75.1 in the fourth quarter of 2008.The on-year growth rate also was the sharpest fall since t

The benchmark KOSPI crawled up 2.1 percent to 1,902.81 Monday on hopes that new leadership in Greece and Italy would help resolve the debt crisis in Europe. Gains were led by tech shares after investors rushed to grab Hynix Semiconductor Inc. stock on the news that the world’s No. 2 computer memory chip maker will issue new shares to prospective buyer SK Telecom at 23,000 won ($20.41) each. Hynix advanced 3.48 percent to 22,300 won apiece. The KOSPI opened strongly on hopes that new technocratic

Financial regulators’ planned action against Lone Star Funds is expected to affect the fate of Kim Seung-yu, chairman of Hana Financial Group striving to acquire Korea Exchange Bank from the U.S.-based equity fund.Early this year, group board members allowed Kim, who secured the post of Hana Bank CEO and Hana Financial chairman in 1997, to extend his term for the top post by one more year until March 2012.The board members’ endorsement for Kim’s tenure extension was attributable to necessity of

The nation’s major savings banks, including Hyundai Swiss, HK and Solomon, will swing to a third-quarter profit due to a healthier loan portfolio restructured recently to favor more small lending to individuals and less project finance, officials said. Solomon Savings Bank, the largest of its kind in Korea in terms of assets, is to post more than 20 billion won ($17.85 million) in profit for July-September, according to provisional data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service. Hyundai Swis

Analysts express concern about pace of debt growth amid Hankook Tire Co., South Ko- economic downturnKorea’s public and private-sector borrowing reached 2.6 times its gross domestic product, data showed Monday, fueling concerns. The latest figure compiled by think tanks and brokerages put the combined debt of the Korean government, state-run and private firms and households at 3,283 trillion won ($2.9 trillion) at the end of June this year, up 5.7 percent from 3,106 trillion won a year earlier.

South Korea will continue its efforts to keep its fiscal health in good shape amid growing global economic uncertainties and worries over rising demand for welfare spending, a senior Finance Ministry official said Monday.“As the economy keeps recovering, our fiscal status is improving fast and it also seems it is remaining in better shape than other advanced nations,” Vice Finance Minister Yoo Sung-kull told a fiscal policy conference jointly hosted by the World Bank and the state-run Korea Deve

Bank deposit rates in South Korea, when adjusted for inflation and taxes, declined to a record low in the third quarter, spurring concern they may further weigh on weak household savings, data compiled by the central bank showed Monday. The average real deposit rate at local banks, which exclude the inflation rate and taxes levied on interest income, stood at negative 1.63 percent in the third quarter, the lowest since the Bank of Korea began compiling the related data in 1996, according to the