Financial groups may avoid taking on bad assets of savings banksThe government-led restructuring of savings banks may end up injecting a sizable amount of taxpayers’ money into troubled secondary financial institutions, industry watchers said. The Financial Supervisory Commission is in talks with potential investors including Woori Financial Group to arrange a sweeping rescue scheme for distressed

Korean stocks ended 0.43 percent lower on Thursday on profit-taking and worries over China’s further monetary tightening, analysts said. The local currency dropped against the U.S. dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 9.03 percent to 2,106.66, retreating from an all-time high of 2,115.69 a day earlier. Trading volume was moderate at 328.8 million shares worth 6.4

China Merchant Bank expected to boost Korean group’s expansionHana Financial Group has established a strategic partnership with China Merchant Bank, the country’s sixth-largest lender, beefing up ammunition for its planned portfolio diversification and expansion of China operations. The Korean financial group said Tuesday that the agreement will involve cooperation on a range of joint financial se

Kookmin Bank is accelerating its major manpower restructuring, transferring 219 underperforming employees to an extra department designed for retraining.A certain portion of them will likely face dismissal or be pressured to quit if they fail to reach a certain level of performance within about two years, an official of the nation’s largest bank said Tuesday.The employees at the department are obl

NTS to focus on paper companies being used to evade tax, hide moneyThe National Tax Service on Monday vowed to toughen its crackdown on offshore tax evasion by wealthy persons and large businesses as one of its priorities this year.The tax authority said it will step up curbs on borrowed-name financial transactions often used by companies to manipulate their incomes. It will also enhance the inqui

Korean companies’ direct financing shrank 10.4 percent in December from a month earlier due to a drop in corporate bond sales, the financial regulator said Monday.Local firms raised a total of 9.4 trillion won ($8.4 billion) through sales of stocks and bonds last month, compared with 10.5 trillion won in November, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said in a report. The decline came due to co

The Korean currency gained 2.6 percent against the U.S. dollar last year amid robust exports and continued capital inflows, the central bank said Monday.The won’s gain was the smallest last year among major Asian currencies excluding the Hong Kong dollar, which lost 0.2 percent against the greenback, according to the Bank of Korea. Hong Kong has pegged its currency to the greenback.Among major Asi

The government is placing the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit into the Finance ministry as a task force during February to coordinate follow-ups of agendas with France, the G20 chair for this year.“The G20 preparation body was created to organize the G20 Seoul summit last year and we are readying to move them to the Finance Ministry,” the government said.The committee will be comprised o

Financial groups may see reputation undermined by acquiring distressed institutionsThe Financial Services Commission has come under criticism for apparently pressuring major financial groups to take over distressed savings banks.Bankers expressed skepticism over the financial watchdog’s move after it unveiled plans last week to put ailing savings banks up for auction and suspend operations at some

Commercial banks are raising interest rates on their loans following the increase of the benchmark rate last week, heightening the financial burden on households and small firms. The Bank of Korea unexpectedly raised the seven-day repurchase rate by 25 basis points on Thursday, as Korea grapples with higher inflation stemming from strong economic growth and rising oil, grain and other commodity pr