South Korea's money supply grew by the largest amount ever in April on a sharp increase in funds held by local companies apparently seeking to prepare for the shock from the new coronavirus pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2 came to 3,018.6 trillion won ($2.51 trillion) as of end-April, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading marks a 1.1 percent, or 34 trillion won increase from a month before, which is the largest on-month gain sinc

SEJONG -- South Korea's financial authorities are closely monitoring the property market as ample liquidity could fuel a rise in home prices, Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom said Wednesday. South Korea has promised to spend some 270 trillion won ($225 billion) to cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic, with the Bank of Korea (BOK) cutting its key rate to a historic low. "The government will closely monitor the market to prevent asset prices from excessively rising

South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday as investors raked in profits while taking a wait-and-see approach on the results of the US Federal Reserve meeting due this week. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 2.97 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,185.95 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Seoul shares closed higher for an eighth consecutive session a day earlier, tracking the reopening of businesses across the globe, including the United States. Overnight, the Dow Jone

SEJONG -- South Korea's jobless rate surged to a 10-year high in May as the coronavirus pandemic hammered job markets, data showed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.5 percent in May, marking the highest level since January 2010, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. The number of employed people fell by 392,000 to 26.93 million in May, marking the third consecutive monthly decline. It was the first time that the nation lost jobs for the third str

Viva Republica, which runs the money transfer platform Toss, says it has recently found unauthorized payments made on its system, and is working to find the exact causes of the incident. According to the fintech firm, eight unauthorized purchases worth a total of 9.4 million won ($7,853) were made via Toss on June 3 from three online websites. Data such as names, phone numbers, birth dates and personal identification numbers were compromised in the incident, but it is “high

Multilateral agency cites Seoul’s successful COVID-19 response

K bank is working to resume operations in July after a monthslong hiatus due to liquidity problems, according to industry insiders Tuesday. South Korea’s first internet-only bank recently announced that it would stop receiving new subscribers for its existing Dual-K Checking Account, its signature savings account product, from July 1. The announcement appears to be a prelude to introducing a new banking product as part of its reopening strategy, sources noted. K bank admitted that

South Korean stocks closed higher Tuesday, extending a winning streak to an eighth consecutive session on hopes for economic recovery and ahead of the Fed meeting this week. The Korean won sharply rose against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 4.63 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 2,188.92. Trading volume was high at about 805.3 million shares worth some 14.5 trillion won ($12.1 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 473 to 366. The KOSPI exte

Despite pandemic impact, ASEAN countries remains lucrative for local lenders

  South Korea’s financial data exchange platform, the first of its kind here, has seen billions of won worth of data being traded there in its month.  Since kicking off on May 11, the platform has reportedly arranged 315 transactions of financial information collected from local companies, including credit card issuers and lenders, according to the state-run Financial Security Institute, which operates the platform. A total of 113 data sets were sold and the average sales pri

SEJONG -- Vice Finance Minister An Il-whan called Tuesday for the National Assembly to swiftly approve the third extra budget to help revive an economic recovery as the coronavirus pandemic resulted in contractions across industrial sectors. Last week, South Korea proposed its third extra budget worth 35.3 trillion won ($29 billion) meant to help key industries cushion the economic blow from the coronavirus pandemic and protect jobs. "The effectiveness of this extra budget depends on it

A court’s rejection of the prosecution’s request to arrest Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday, appears to have temporarily cleared uncertainties surrounding the chip giant’s operations, a local brokerage said in a report. The de facto heir to the Samsung empire was released early morning after the Seoul Central District Court’s decision to try Lee without arresting him, citing insufficient probable cause. “As Lee avoided arrest, he is expe

South Korea's top 100 companies posted a 10 percent on-quarter decline in their overseas earnings in the January-March period due to the new coronavirus impact on industries, an industry association said Tuesday.  The 100 biggest companies in terms of sales reported their combined overseas sales fell to 170.42 trillion won in the first quarter from 190.17 trillion won in the fourth quarter, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) said in a statement. Companies hit hard by the COVID-19

South Korea said Tuesday it plans to develop new ready-to-eat products utilizing local fishery goods to take advantage of the rising demand for processed food items as more people refrain from dining out amid the new coronavirus pandemic across the globe. Under the plan, the country will join forces with local businesses and develop at least nine different kinds of new processed fishery products that can be easily prepared at households by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Oce

South Korea collected 46.8 trillion won ($38.8 billion) in taxes in April, down 3 trillion won from a year earlier, the finance ministry said Tuesday. Income tax revenue amounted to 6.6 trillion won in April, up 1 trillion won from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Dues collected from companies reached 6.4 trillion won in the month, up 3.7 trillion won from a year earlier. Value-added tax revenue reached 14.5 trillion won in April, down 2.6 trillion won from