Foreign investors in South Korea continued to recoup investments from the local bond market for three consecutive months, dragging the amount of locally listed bonds they held to the lowest level in six months, according to the financial regulator on Sunday. The latest data of the Financial Supervisory Service showed foreign holdings of locally listed bonds amounted to 122.3 trillion won ($103 billion) as of Wednesday, dropping from 124.77 trillion won at end-November. It also marked the lowest

About one-third of South Korean working mothers with underage children were irregular workers paid lower wages, data showed Friday, underscoring the reality that taking time off to raise children is harming many women's career prospects.A total of 641,000 female contract workers had kids under 18 as of April this year, or about 28 percent of the 2.3 million working mothers aged from 15 to 54 here, according to the latest data compiled by Statistics Korea. The portion was higher than the 25.1-per

The financial watchdog on Thursday directed local banks to compensate up to 80 percent of the losses suffered by customers due to their controversial sale of derivative-linked funds earlier this year. The Financial Supervisory Service held its dispute settlement committee meeting to review six representative cases of investor damages due to miselling -- three from Woori Bank and three from KEB Hana Bank.“In the past cases of misselling (of financial products), the compensation rate was usu

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki urged officials on Thursday to make efforts to help the National Assembly approve next year's budget bill by next Tuesday, when the parliamentary session ends. South Korea is seeking a total of 513.5 trillion won ($431 billion) in budget spending for next year, a 9.3-percent hike from 2019. The National Assembly missed a Monday deadline to pass the budget bill due to political battles. This year marked the fifth straight year the National Assembly has missed the lega

South Korea’s current account surplus continued to grow in October from the previous month to reach a 12-month high as the service account deficit narrowed and primary income account surplus expanded, data showed Thursday.The surplus, however, was mostly attributed to the decline in raw material imports which reflected dampened domestic demand, while the actual growth pace of the economy remained sluggish. At $7.83 billion, the current account surplus was up slightly from $7.76 billion in

South Korean companies added 260,000 jobs in 2018 from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday, amid concerted efforts to hire more workers.The job gains were compared with 2017, when South Korean firms added a total of 310,000 jobs from the previous year, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.By sector, wholesale and retail businesses added 70,000 jobs and health and social welfare services added 40,000 jobs in 2018 from a year earlier. In contrast, manufacturing shed 60,00

South Korea's current account surplus grew slightly from a month earlier to reach a 12-month high in October as its service account deficit narrowed while its primary income account surplus expanded, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's current account surplus came to $7.83 billion, up from a revised surplus of $7.76 billion the previous month, according to preliminary data from the Bank of Korea.The reading marks the highest since October 2018 when the country's current account surpl

Social disturbances and financial costs during restructuring are the inevitable price one has to pay in order to reform the economy and prevent further damages, according to the chief of South Korea’s largest state-run bank.“During my past 2 1/2 years in office, I have felt the high level of distrust in our society,” said Lee Dong-gull, chairman of the Korea Development Bank, in a press conference.“Many blame us for persecuting workers along the way but our unchanging goa

The Finance Ministry announced Wednesday plans to establish a 12 trillion won ($10 billion) fund to help support competent startups scale up as unicorns, allocating 300 billion won exclusively for fintech firms.Unicorns refer to startups valued at over $1 billion. “(The government) will actively adopt policies to scale up and advance the fintech ecosystem both quantitatively and qualitatively, so that South Korean startups can emerge as global unicorns,” Deputy Prime Minister and Fin

Four industry experts have joined the race to head the leading nonprofit, self-regulatory financial organization in South Korea.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on Wednesday, Daishin Securities CEO Na Jae-chul, Hana Financial Investment Executive Managing Director Seo Jae-ik, former IBK Securities CEO Shin Seong-ho and KTB Asset Management Vice Chairman Jung Ki-seung have thrown their hats into the ring.  Other strong potential candidates, including Korea Investm

The country's tax agency on Wednesday disclosed a fresh list of some 6,800 new citizens and corporate entities with unpaid taxes exceeding 200 million won ($167,462) for one year or longer. The National Tax Service said that it decided to reveal those on the list after they refused to specify their reasons for failing to pay their taxes even though they have been asked to do so for more than six months. The list includes 4,379 individuals. Also included on the list are 2,099 companies that

South Korea's chief economic policymaker said Wednesday he sees no acute risk of deflation, adding that next year's projected inflation rate will be higher than this year's. The remarks by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki came days after the Bank of Korea announced that the third-quarter gross domestic product deflator -- a measure of inflation used to calculate economic growth in real terms -- fell 1.6 percent on-year, marking the sharpest decline in two decades.Consumer prices rose 0.2 percent on-

Interest in unlisted stocks is projected to further grow as there are no other alternatives to Kosdaq and Konex

HSBC Securities has appointed Lee Jong-jin and Rhee Sang-ho as co-chief executive officers, the firm announced Wednesday.Lee joined HSBC in Hong Kong in 2009 from Dresdner Bank and transferred to HSBC Korea in 2010. He has since led fixed income sales, and in 2019 he expanded sales coverage to cash equity products. Lee is also said to specialize in risk management.Rhee joined HSBC in 2010 from JPMorgan and has been leading the Korea debt capital markets team.HSBC Securities provides market resea

Imported car sales in South Korea rose 14 percent on-year last month, helped by new models, industry data showed Wednesday. The number of newly registered foreign vehicles rose to 25,514 units in November, up from 22,387 a year earlier, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association said in a statement. German carmakers, including Audi-Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, posted a 30-percent on-year jump last month. Their combined sales climbed to 16,459 in November from 12,688 a ye