Banks in South Korea are expected to tighten their lending to households and companies in the fourth quarter of the year as credit risks will remain high amid the pandemic-caused economic uncertainty, a central bank poll showed Monday. The Bank of Korea's index measuring the banks' attitude toward fresh loans came to minus 5 for the October-December period, after hitting zero three months earlier. It marks the first time that the index fell into negative terrain since the fourth quarter of las

The Bank of Korea (BOK) is widely expected to keep its policy rate steady at a record low of 0.5 percent this week, as it will likely gauge the impact of the protracted pandemic on the economy, a poll showed Monday. In a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, all 17 analysts polled predicted the BOK will freeze the base rate at its rate-setting meeting, slated for Wednesday. They also forecast the BOK to stand pat on the rate during the remainder of the year an

Hyundai Motor Co., BMW, Mercedes-Benz and four other companies will voluntarily recall nearly 50,000 vehicles to fix faulty components, the transport ministry said Monday. This is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers operating in South Korea and vehicle importers due to problems with vehicle components. The four other companies are Kia Motors Corp., Audi-Volkswagen Korea, Jaguar Land Rover Korea and Daijeon Machinery Co., which imports Kawasaki motorcycles, the Ministry of Land, Infr

South Korea's parliament said Monday it has adopted a hydrogen fuel-cell electric bus as it pushes to promote hydrogen-powered vehicles. The National Assembly became the country's first state organization to adopt a hydrogen bus, and it will use the zero-emission bus to help transport people within the parliament and from neighboring subway stations, the parliament said in a statement. "We will initially operate the hydrogen bus two to four times a day as a shuttle bus for those who visit

South Korean Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee, who has recently made it to the final round of the selection process for a new leader at the World Trade Organization (WTO), plans to head to Europe later this week to win more support from its members. Yoo will visit Switzerland and other European nations starting Tuesday, to meet representatives from member countries of the WTO, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. Last week, the trade official made it onto the shortlist of two f

South Korean shares opened higher Monday, as the country loosened its antivirus curbs. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 7.51 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,399.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading. The local stock market got off to a strong start, as the country lowered the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines to the lowest level Sunday, raising hopes that the eased virus curbs will boost the economic recovery. Large caps traded mixed. Market bellwether Samsung

Major foreign investment banks (IBs) have downgraded their forecasts for South Korea's economic growth following the resurgence of the coronavirus here, a report showed Monday. As of end-September, nine major global IBs, including Barclays and Goldman Sachs, forecast Asia's fourth-largest economy to shrink 1.4 percent this year, compared with their median outlook of a 0.9 percent contraction offered a month earlier, according to the report by the Korea Center for International Finance. The out

South Korea's coal consumption for electricity generation decreased 7 percent in 2019 from a year earlier due to its efforts to cut carbon emissions, a report said Monday. Asia's fourth-largest economy consumed 94 million tons of coal to generate electricity, compared with 101 million tons a year earlier, according to the report by the Korea Energy Economics Institute. It marks the second consecutive year of decline. South Korea's coal consumption for power generation rose from 101 million ton

SEJONG -- South Korea's exports dropped 28.8 percent on-year in the first 10 days of October amid the fallout from the new coronavirus outbreak, customs data showed Monday. The nation's outbound shipments stood at $9.3 billion in the Oct. 1-10 period, compared with $13 billion a year ago, according to the data from the Korea Customs Service. Per-day exports, however, rose 2.8 percent on-year in the Oct. 1-10 period, the Korea Customs Service said. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted trad

KB Financial Group and the Korea Growth Investment Corp. said Sunday that they would select two external partners to establish funds worth at least 30 billion won ($26 million) as part of their five-year social impact investing initiative. KB Financial Group will commit 15 billion won to the two external partners combined, and K-Growth will provide 5 billion won. The selected partners will pool at least 10 billion won to create the funds by the first half of 2021, according to K-Growth’s

Kakao Bank, South Korea’s leading internet-only bank and an affiliate of mobile platform operator Kakao, has supplied more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in accumulated mid-range interest rate loans, officials said Sunday. The company has also already achieved its annual target of 1 trillion won and has vowed to sustain its mid-rate lending throughout the rest of the year in a gesture to provide liquidity to people with weak credit ratings. Kakao Bank’s mid-range lending so far

Tension is escalating at financial institutions as the National Assembly begins two weeks of auditing on financial bodies, focusing on a private equity fund scam and the government’s “Korean New Deal” program. This year, the inspected organizations are especially weighed down by advance paperwork, as only a limited number of people are allowed in the audit hall, as par of anti-coronavirus social distancing rules. The National Policy Committee of the National Assembly will

Tencent-backed online movie ticket booking platform Maoyan Entertainment has unloaded its stake in YG Entertainment worth a combined 22.1 billion won ($19.2 million) since August, disclosures showed Sunday. The selloff reduced the Chinese company’s control over South Korea‘s major entertainment powerhouse -- home to K-pop groups Big Bang, Blackpink and the newly-debuted Treasure -- to 5.78 percent, from the previous 8.09 percent. In September alone, Maoyan divested a combine

The number of fitness centers in South Korea has soared in recent years, reflecting the rising demand for fitness and leisure activities in the midst of the work-life balance culture triggered by the government’s 52-hour workweek cap, an industry report showed Sunday. According to KB Financial Group’s report on self-employed workers here, nearly 9,900 fitness centers are in operation nationwide as of July, increasing 53 percent during the last 10 years. Of them, 1,109 opened last

Annual income grew more slowly than GDP, lawmaker points out