Foreign holdings of South Korean bonds amounted to 119.2 trillion won ($111 billion) at the end of last month, reaching a new monthly high, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service, while the local stock market remained stagnant. The figure surpassed the previous monthly record high of 114.3 trillion won in August 2018.  Overseas investors’ debt holdings accounted for 6.7 percent of the total market, according to the FSS data. They net purchased 11.3 trillion won worth

SEJONG -- The Moon Jae-in government recently unveiled a policy to pay 3 million won ($2,550) over a six-month period, or 500,000 won a month, to a certain portion of jobless people aged 18-64 after assessing their household income levels.It has also decided to provide financial support for self-employed people who have had to close their businesses, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.Officials say the purpose of this support is to assist the recipients’ job-seeking activiti

South Korea's economy is positioned to face heightened downside risks as the trade dispute between the United States and China escalates, hurting global trade and manufacturing activity, a senior presidential secretary said Sunday."I think we cannot rule out the possibility of the downside risks being drawn out as external uncertainties have increased further than what we expected," Yoon Jong-won, senior secretary for economic affairs, told reporters. "The global economy is on a d

Weeks following the Korean financial regulator’s rejection of its request to set up the nation’s third and fourth internet-only banks, Toss Bank may have to draw up a fresh list of strategic investors to get a second shot. The Financial Services Commission on Sunday pointed out issues with Toss Bank’s shareholding structure and lack of a feasible plan to raise capital as key reasons behind its decision to reject the application.  In a shocking turn of events, the FSC on Ma

The Financial Supervisory Service has decided to take disciplinary action against major securities firms for lax control on their overseas stock trading systems, officials said Friday.　The financial market watchdog earlier conducted an investigation on 17 local brokerages, of which more than 10 turned out to have loopholes in their foreign stock trading systems, according to officials.The list included major players such as Korea Investment & Securities, Samsung Securities, NH Investment &am

The price of gold on South Korea’s bourse reached the highest level in three years this week, reflecting the market’s preference for risk-free assets amid persistent volatility, data showed Thursday.According to the Korea Exchange Gold Market, the price of gold closed at 50,430 won ($42.80) per gram Wednesday, down 30 won from the previous day’s close but up 9.06 percent from the beginning of the year.Tuesday’s closing price of 50,460 won per gram marked the highest since

William B. Stanton, Citibank Korea’s head of commercial bank, speaks at the “Singapore Digital Day” seminar, hosted by the Korean unit of the international banking giant, at Google Campus in Seoul on Wednesday. Around 100 corporate strategy, planning and treasury officers as well as Yip Wei Kiat, Singapore’s ambassador to Korea, attended the event, where experts shared their knowledge of the digital market and global opportunities in Singapore and ASEAN nations. (Citibank

South Korea’s benchmark Kospi shed 7.34 percent in May alone, according to the Korea Exchange on Tuesday, its largest monthly loss since October last year.The main bourse’s lackluster performance last month is fueling concerns among investors still recovering from the shock in October, when the stock market experienced the steepest monthly decline in a decade.  At that time it shed 13.37 percent, weighed down by the US’ decision to implement 10 percent tariffs on $200 bill

South Korea’s consumer price growth remained below the 1 percent level for the fifth consecutive month in May, due to a decline in price of petroleum products and increased welfare costs, government data showed Tuesday.The latest figures, which fell far below the Bank of Korea’s consumer price target of 2 percent, are once again seen as a signal that the central bank may consider a policy rate cut within the year. The consumer price index stood at 105.05 in May, up 0.7 percent from a

South Korea's economy shrank at a faster rate in the first quarter than earlier expected, the central bank said Tuesday, due to sluggish investment and exports that are expected to further deteriorate on escalating trade tension between the world's two largest economies.The country's real gross domestic product backtracked 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from three months earlier, the Bank of Korea said.The latest revision is lower than the central bank's earlier estimate of a 0.3 p

South Korea’s wealthy are more concerned about inheritance issues than generating profit from financial products in terms of asset management, data compiled by Samsung Securities showed Monday.The data was based on 1,630 cases of regular consulting with the firm’s clients who have over 3 billion won ($2.6 million) deposited in the firm for investment.  Of the clients, 30.2 percent acknowledged that inheritance issues were their priority concern, while 30 percent chose collecting

The chief of South Korea’s central bank on Monday urged the nation to build economic resilience to external shock factors, amid the prolonged US-China trade conflict and its negative impact. He also reiterated the need for structural reform to rev up the country’s growth potential and job creation capacity. “Global economic linkages have been slowing lately due to the impact of the trade dispute (between Washington and Beijing),” said Lee Ju-yeol, governor of the Bank of

SEJONG -- Compared with past governments, the Moon Jae-in administration has been actively increasing public expenditure to benefit jobless people in their 20s and early 30s.However, many have cast doubt on the efficacy of its strategy of pouring dozens of trillions of won in taxpayer money into job creation over the past two years since May 2017.This year, the incumbent government is struggling to prevent the economic growth rate from falling sharply by proposing a supplementary budget bill, dr

The amount of international money transfers handled by South Korea’s fintech firms have increased more than 25 times over the past year, hinting at the growing popularity of small-sum cross-border money transfer services.According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea handled $365 million worth of small-sum money transfers in the first quarter of 2019, up 2,507 percent from $14 million handled in the fourth quarter of 2017 when such services began operations here.This total figure is

South Korea’s main bourse Kospi posted a weak return rate of 0.03 percent since the beginning of the year, data from the Korea Exchange showed Sunday, putting the bourse near the bottom rank among its G20 counterparts. According to the KRX, the Kospi’s rate of return stood at a lackluster 0.03 percent as of Friday, the last trading day of May, placing it at No. 19 out of 20 major bourses around the world. Its rate of return hovered just above Turkey’s benchmark XU100, which ran