South Korea’s Woori Financial Group on Thursday said its current chief would maintain his role for the time being despite sanctions imposed by financial authorities for misselling of derivatives-linked funds. The announcement came as a result of a preliminary board meeting, on the eve of the regular board meeting scheduled Friday. Woori Financial’s seven board members, including Chairman Sohn Tae-seung, gathered with the goal of releasing a statement conveying the chairman’s

Traditional insurance companies in South Korea are speeding up digital transformation of their operations and services to compete with emerging tech-savvy companies that are proliferating in the financial sector. However, their digital strategy also involves industrial crossover partnerships with the emerging competitors, if necessary. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, the nation’s largest non-life insurance firm, and Kakao Pay, a fintech spin-off of mobile messenger giant Kakao,

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in administration has drawn up and approved a series of supplementary budgets in a bid to stimulate GDP growth and create jobs amid a tough employment market. Officials say the stimulus measures, including the active use of tax money and the issuance of treasury bonds, have benefited the overall economy. But opponents question their efficacy, pointing to a sharp increase only in nonregular jobs and to disappointing GDP growth -- 2 percent in 2019, the lowest rate in 10 y

Mobile messenger Kakao’s entry into the stock trading market, via its fintech spinoff Kakao Pay, will boost growth of the financial technology sector and the brokerage market, according to local analysts on Thursday. The Financial Services Commissions, South Korea’s financial regulator, on Wednesday approved Kakao Pay’s request to acquire a controlling 60 percent stake in local brokerage Baro Investment & Securities. The stock trader has been renamed to Kakao Pay Securi

Jobs offered by the government and state-run companies accounted for 9.1 percent of South Korea's labor market in 2018, government data showed Thursday. A total of 2.45 million people were employed in 2018 by the public sector, including the central and provincial governments and state-run financial and non-financial firms, compared with 2.43 million people in 2017, according to the data by Statistics Korea. Government ministries and agencies had 2.09 million employees in 2018, with the comp

South Korea's finance ministry said Thursday it has designated 10 industrial sectors for deregulation, including artificial intelligence and biotechnology, to help them develop technologies and services with fewer regulatory hurdles. Other industrial sectors include mobility service, new medical technologies, biotechnology, fintech, tourism and e-commerce, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement. Companies in the industrial sectors are expected to develop products without re

SEJONG -- South Korea will swiftly implement its fiscal spending as China's rapidly spreading coronavirus epidemic is expected to cast a shadow on the nation's fragile economic recovery, a senior official said Thursday. The spread of the virus is likely to have an "unexpected" impact on the nation's economic growth, Vice Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said in a meeting with relevant economic officials earlier in the day. South Korea has planned to spend 62 percent of its budget in t

South Korea's current account surplus narrowed sharply in December as its exports fell at a faster rate than imports, central bank data showed Thursday. The country's current account surplus came to $4.33 billion in the month, down $1.64 billion from the month before, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea. The reading also marks a $580 million drop from the same month in 2018. The country's current account balance has been in the black for eight consecutive months since May 201

Kyobo Securities is set to launch a dual CEO system to strengthen the company’s two business pillars -- investment banking and wealth management -- the company said Wednesday. The board of directors approved the nomination of Park Bong-kweon, the former vice president of Kyobo Life Insurance, as the firm’s new CEO in charge of wealth management. Park’s CEO designation will be finalized at the general meeting of stockholders in March. The securities firm has been led by incu

South Korea’s public pension fund, the National Pension Service, is now gearing up for new committees to ramp up the shareholder engagement push for its portfolio firms here at an unprecedented level. But time appears to be running short ahead of the March proxy season in Korea. The NPS’ Fund Management Committee has to start from scratch to forge a fully fledged decision-making system to shortlist companies under what is equivalent to a “focus list” by the California P

The Financial Services Commission, South Korea’s financial regulator, said Wednesday that it has approved fintech firm Kakao Pay’s request to become the largest shareholder of brokerage house Baro Investment & Securities. With that final authorization, the fintech firm will be able to operate stock trading businesses on its own mobile platforms as well as those run by its parent firm, mobile messenger giant Kakao. Last year the Kakao fintech spinoff submitted an application

Government promises tax benefits for affected businesses, strong measures to prevent monopolies of masks and sanitizers

South Korea on Wednesday unveiled a financial package worth 820 billion won ($690 million) to help modernize aging passenger boats and cargo vessels. The package is meant to help smaller shipping companies build 59 new ships -- 21 passenger boats and 38 cargo vessels, the Financial Services Commission said. Under a plan, a shipping company can receive financial help, up to 60 percent of costs needed for building a ship, from banks, and South Korea's state-run Korea Ocean Business Corp. guaran

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves surged to a record high of $409.6 billion in January, surpassing its previous record from December, the nation’s central bank data showed Wednesday. The increase in reserves came despite a strong US dollar trend, which weakened the dollar value of other foreign currencies held by Korea, the Bank of Korea said. But a rise in profits and investment returns of other foreign assets under the country’s management contributed to the la

Seoul-based asset management giant Mirae Asset Global Investments said Wednesday that the net asset value of its exchange-traded fund invested in the US-based Nasdaq has surpassed 100 billion won. Mirae’s Tiger Nasdaq 100 ETF tracks 100 companies listed on America’s tech-heavy stock market Nasdaq including Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. Having gained total returns of 391.03 percent since October 2010, the net worth of the company’s fund has doubled from 56.5 billion won in 201