Nearly 9 in 10 South Korean exporting companies expect the global trade situation in 2022 not to improve compared with the previous year due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic, a poll showed Thursday. The survey of 300 exporting firms showed 55 percent of the respondents anticipating this year's world trade conditions to be similar to those in 2021. About 37 percent said the global trade climate would take a turn for the worse this year, with only 14.3 percent forecasting an improvement. The

South Korean stocks retreated Wednesday on worries the rising long-term bond yields in the United States may hasten the Federal Reserve's tapering move. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) declined 35.27 points, or 1.18 percent, to close at 2,953.97 points. Trading volume was moderate at about 774 million shares worth some 14.6 trillion won ($12.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 554 to 319. Institutions dumped a net 1.3

South Korea’s state-run banks are gearing up for major overseas business expansions this year, in line with the global economy adopting measures to return to normalcy from the pandemic. Korea Development Bank, the nation’s development financial lender that provides local firms risk capital, is likely to upgrade its current office in Frankfurt, Germany, to a branch by the end of the year. KDB Chairman Lee Dong-gull visited Germany in August last year to prepare for the office’

South Korea’s financial institutions -- including banks, brokerages and credit card companies -- launched an all-in-one banking service Wednesday for customers to manage their financial data spread across financial firms in one place. Called “MyData,” the service was put on a trial run in December before 33 financial institutions officially started offering it this week to help customers make more informed financial decisions looking at their account balances, loans and insura

South Korea's chief financial regulator said Wednesday that he is looking into loan and interest rates set by financial institutions amid complaints that their spread is widening, deepening the financial burden on many consumers. Jeong Eun-bo, head of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), made the remarks as criticism has grown that banks and other financial firms are quicker to increase their loan rates than raise rates on deposits. The rate hikes are in line with the central bank's push t

Sales of imported vehicles in South Korea plunged 24 percent in December from a year earlier as chip shortages continued to disrupt vehicle production, an industry association said Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles fell to 23,904 units last month from 31,419 units a year ago, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) said in a statement. "Chip supply issues continued to weigh on vehicle sales last month despite a variety of new models,

South Korea's housing market has been stabilizing with home prices not just in Seoul but also many other local areas on a downward trend on higher taxes and stricter lending rules, the finance minister said Wednesday. The recent downward trend comes after the government adopted dozens of measures to curb skyrocketing home prices in recent years as more people rushed to take out bank loans to buy homes in anticipation of further price hikes. "The pace of stabilization in the recent home tr

South Korea's wine imports soared over 70 percent in 2021 as more people enjoyed drinking at home and alone amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Wednesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy imported $506.2 million worth of wine in the January-November period of last year, up 76 percent from a year earlier, according to the data by the Korea Customs Service and industry sources. It marks the first time that the country's wine imports have surpassed the $500 million level. South Korea's wine

South Korea's foreign reserves declined for the second straight month in December as the country redeemed some of the maturing foreign currency stabilization bonds, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's foreign reserves came to $463.12 billion as of end-December, down $790 million from the previous month, according to the data provided by the Bank of Korea (BOK). This marked the second straight month that the foreign reserves have contracted. In November, the amount dropped $5.3 bi

Banks have started lending again as of Tuesday after months of temporarily suspending their household and mortgage loans, but strict standards from last year are likely to remain or get even tighter this year. NongHyup Bank, one of the five major commercial banks here, normalized lending of its entire household loan products, including mortgages on Monday. It has also decided to raise its lines of credit from the previous 20 million won ($16,700) to 100 million won. NongHyup had suspended le

SEJONG -- Foreign direct investment in the nine free economic zones in South Korea surpassed a cumulative $20 billion mark since the nation started operating the FEZs 18 years ago in 2003. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the nine FEZs attracted FDI worth $1.31 billion in 2021, up 42 percent from a year earlier. This was a bounce-back after recording declines for two consecutive years -- from $1.69 billion in 2018 to $1.02 billion in 2019 and $910 million in 2020. Col

ShinhanCard said Tuesday it had launched a nonfungible token service for clients to store their pictures using the digital assets -- a first by a local financial company. NFTs are authenticated by blockchain, a record of transactions kept on networked computers that serves as a public ledger for verifying ownership. Each NFT has a unique digital signature and digital objects, like images and videos, are traded as NFTs. “Our clients wouldn’t have to worry about making the actual tra

Online shopping in South Korea hit a fresh record high in November, data showed Tuesday, in the latest sign that a growing number of people are using computers and mobile devices to buy things, ranging from clothes to electronic goods amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The value of online shopping transactions stood at 17.5 trillion won ($14.7 billion) in November, up 16.5 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The November data marked the highest level

South Korea's central bank chief Tuesday urged local financial institutions to brace for the possibility of growing credit risk from heavily indebted households and self-employed as the country will continue to tighten loose financial and monetary policy put in place to prop up the pandemic-hit economy. Lee Ju-yeol, governor of the Bank of Korea (BOK), made the remarks in his written New Year's greetings for the financial community, adding that such credit risk could get worse amid rising exter

The value of construction contracts in South Korea climbed more than 12 percent in the third quarter of 2021 thanks mainly to increased private projects, government data showed Tuesday. Civilian and public works contracts in Asia's fourth-largest economy were valued at 65.2 trillion won ($54.6 billion) in the July-September period, up 12.2 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Private deals swelled 12.9 percent on-year to 55 tri