The prosecution has indicted 38 officials from South Korean commercial and provincial banks, including former and incumbent chiefs, on charges of exerting inappropriate influence on entry-level employment, in the latest development in the local financial sector’s hiring scandal.The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on Sunday announced it had sent the officials, including KEB Hana Bank Chief Executive Ham Young-joo and ex-CEO of Woori Bank Lee Kwang-goo, to trial. While Ham and Lee were boo

South Korean banks are poised to raise their lending rates after the key interest rate in the Unites States reached the 2 percent range, market sources said Sunday.As widely expected, the US Fed raised its rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of between 1.75 percent and 2 percent last week, signaling that two more rate increases may be on the cards this year.According to the sources, COFIX, a benchmark lending rate for mortgage loans, was 1.82 percent for new loans as of Saturday,

South Korea's jobless rate rose slightly in May due to a fall in employment in the retail, manufacturing and educational service sectors, while job creation remained sluggish, government data showed Friday.The unemployment rate stood at 4 percent last month, up 0.4 percentage point from a year earlier, marking the highest rate recorded for May in 18 years, according to the report compiled by Statistics Korea.The number of employed people reached 27.06 million in May, up 72,000 from a year earlie

The European Central Bank on Thursday said it expected key interest rates to remain at their current historic lows "at least through the summer of 2019."The Frankfurt institution's main refinancing rate currently stands at zero percent, the rate on the marginal lending facility at 0.25 percent, and the rate on deposits at -0.4 percent, meaning banks pay to park money with the ECB. (AFP)

Seoul troubled by rate hike pressure, slow growth dilemma

South Korean banks have stepped up preparations for a possible resumption of economic projects in North Korea, as a historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un raised hopes of more reconciliation between Seoul and Pyongyang.After about five hours of talks in Singapore on Tuesday, Trump and Kim signed a joint statement committing to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." But the statement fell short on details of how the North'

President Moon Jae-in's "new economic road map" for the Korean Peninsula may get its needed momentum once North Korea's denuclearization gets on track, with details getting added to the unified market and economic cooperation belts that he envisioned, according to watchers here Thursday.Prospects of improved and even new economic tieups with the North brightened after the historic North Korea-US summit in Singapore on Tuesday. The premise is that the international sanctions imposed on

With the prospects for Korea’s exports in the coming years dimming, there is increased pressure to expand domestic demand, particularly by promoting service industries through drastic deregulation.A downturn in exports, which have shored up Asia’s fourth-largest economy in recent years amid sluggish domestic demand, could rattle it unless offset by an increase in local consumption and investment, experts say.According to recent data from the Bank of Korea, exports made a 1.8 percenta

Think tanks expand NK economy research teams, ministries name senior experts as inter-Korean team chiefs

Korea is lagging behind in global competition to enhance the productivity and employment of manufacturing industries, experts here say.Asia’s fourth-largest economy saw its manufacturing sector’s proportion of gross domestic product shrink from 31.36 percent in 2011 to 29.33 percent in 2016, according to data from the World Bank. The corresponding figure for member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development rose by 1.1 percentage points on average over the ci

Experts warn against hasty anticipations, call caution on US, EU monetary policy changes

The South Korean police began an investigation on Monday after Korea’s seventh largest crypto exchange Coinrail lost more than 40 billion ($37 million) in altcoins in an apparent attack by hackers over the weekend. “We secured the access history of Coinrail servers and we are in the process of analyzing them,” said a police spokesperson.  The police said it would figure out whether the leakage of the cryptocurrencies are caused by hacking or computer network problems. On M

Prosecutors raided the head office of Shinhan Bank on Monday as part of an investigation into allegations that its officials gave special favors to children of the bank's ranking officials, allowing them to take jobs at the lender. Investigators from the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office were sent to search the bank's human resources and inspection departments to confiscate evidence, the prosecution said. They also searched residences of some of the officials. Prosecutors launched a pro

Financial authorities plan to tighten anti-money laundering regulations ahead of next year's assessment of South Korea by an intergovernmental organization set up to combat illicit movement of funds, officials said Sunday.The Financial Action Task Force, a body established with the mission of clamping down on money laundering, will conduct its assessment on South Korean efforts in 2019. The FATF has also strengthened rules to stamp out money laundering as the liberalization of markets and popula

The gap between key South Korean and US interest rates will widen further if the US Federal Reserve raises its key rate again this week, a move that would rekindle worries of capital outflows, according to analysts Sunday. Currently, South Korea's base rate stands at 1.5 percent, the same as the lower end of the US policy rate. Traders have expected the Fed to raise its key rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent this week. The current interest rate reversal is