The financial and banking sectors have seen a significant jump in the amount of fines imposed on companies that have violated domestic laws in recent years, but top officials responsible for financial irregularities have received relatively light punishments, data showed Wednesday. According to a report released by corporate data tracker CEOScore, some 33.5 billion won ($27 million) in fines were levied on financial and banking firms involved in illicit activities in 2019, up 122.4 percent fr

Health rumors surrounding North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may expand volatility in South Korea’s stock market already gripped with fears on plunging oil prices, analysts said Wednesday. Cheong Wa Dae’s announcement Tuesday that played down news reports of Kim being in critical condition will reduce uncertainties, but it is premature to determine that stock indexes and the local currency will be on a recovery track anytime soon, they added. “If Kim Jong-un does not make a pub

Despite early virus containment, excessive optimism on recovery of export-driven economy still dangerous, experts say

JB Financial Group has completed the acquisition of a Vietnam-based brokerage previously owned by global investment bank Morgan Stanley, as part of the local banking group’s effort to make inroads into Southeast Asia. JB Financial Group said Wednesday it paid 19.9 billion won ($16.1 million) for a 100 percent stake in Morgan Stanley Gateway Securities, a midsized brokerage headquartered in Hanoi. Founded in 2006, the firm posted some 300 billion Vietnamese dong ($12.7 million) as capita

South Korean crowdfunding platform Wadiz said Wednesday it has launched an offline space to help fundraising efforts by showcasing products to visitors and funders. Located in eastern Seoul, Gonggan Wadiz features a display room for “makers,” or those with an ongoing fundraising project on the Wadiz platform, as well as a workstation and networking space, officials said. Visitors and funders will be able to try the products before they invest in a project, they added. The two-sto

South Korea's finance ministry said Wednesday it will sharply increase the size of the nation's aid package for coronavirus-hit companies and job protection. The aid package will rise to 135 trillion ($109 billion) won from 100 trillion won, which had been set previously, to supply more liquidity into companies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. Of the additional 35 trillion won, 20 trillion won will be used to buy more corporate bonds and 1

South Korea said Wednesday it will spare no effort to support local petroleum firms hit hard by the new coronavirus outbreak coupled with plunging oil prices. Under the support measures, local refiners will be given discounts in rental fees at state-run reserve facilities, and they will be allowed to delay their payment of commissions for product quality tests, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. "South Korea will continue making efforts to help the companies cushio

South Korean stocks extended losses late Wednesday morning as investors offloaded large-cap stocks amid falling crude prices and deepening woes over the new coronavirus. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 28.66 points, or 1.52 percent, to 1,850.72 as of 11:15 a.m. The index dropped 1.8 percent in the past two sessions. For the remainder of the week, lower oil prices and poor corporate earnings results set to be released from this week are adding to woes of investors,

South Korea has expressed its intention to support global efforts to maintain global food supply chains amid the new coronavirus pandemic, the agriculture ministry said Wednesday. Agricultural Minister Kim Hyeon-soo participated in a videoconference of the G-20 agricultural ministers a day earlier to discuss the global response against the COVID-19 pandemic in the food segment, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. During the meeting, South Korea called for the glo

The Korean Intellectual Property Office will establish a patent information map to make the relevant data more accessible both to the public and to researchers seeking a cure for COVID-19, officials said Tuesday. Commissioner Park Won-joo on Tuesday visited Syntekabio, a genomic big data manager and artificial intelligence developer in Daejeon. With their counterparts from the Korean Society for Bioinformatics, KIPO officials discussed how AI could be used to analyze conventional drug informat

South Korea's producer prices fell 0.8 percent from a month earlier in March due to tumbling international oil prices, central bank data showed Wednesday. The producer price index for all commodities and services came to 102.89 last month, compared with 103.74 in February, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From the same month a year earlier, the figure marked a 0.5 percent decrease. Producer prices serve as a key barometer of future inflation. South Korea's consumer

Credit card loans in South Korea surged nearly 26 percent on-year in March as cash-strapped people rushed to borrow from card firms amid a prolonged coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed Wednesday. New loans extended by seven credit card firms -- Shinhan, KB Kookmin, Woori, Hana, Samsung, Hyundai and Lotte -- came to 4.3 trillion won ($3.5 billion) last month, up 25.6 percent from a year earlier. The figure compares with annualized increases of 1.6 percent in January and 16.6 percent in

Overseas branches of South Korean insurance firms saw their combined net profit triple from a year earlier to $69.9 million in 2019, data showed Tuesday. The figure accounted for 2 percent of the combined net profit of 10 insurance firms operating in South Korea last year, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The hike in net profit came on the back of life insurance firms' increased profit in the Asian region and a decrease in insurance claims from typhoons, hur

With global oil prices tanking, South Korea’s exports and its key industries are projected to face more hurdles, according to market watchers Tuesday.  The price of US crude oil plummeted from $18 a barrel to minus $38 within hours early Tuesday, as oil producers ran out of space to store the oversupply created by the ongoing pandemic. It rebounded into positive territory, above $1, around noon, but onlookers expect risks to linger for the time being. This has been spurring concer

State-run Industrial Bank of Korea said Tuesday it has agreed to pay $86 million in penalties to New York State authorities over illegal cash transfers to Iran. As part of the settlement, IBK will pay $51 million to the New York State Attorney General’s office and $35 million to the New York State Department of Financial Services. The US authorities charged the Korean lender with violating the anti-money laundering laws in 2014. One of its clients has reportedly transferred more than $