Bank of Korea Gov. Lee Ju-yeol said Tuesday that while lingering political deadlock has held back talks to renew a currency swap deal with Japan, Korea would not be rushing it, during his visit to Zurich to sign a swap agreement with Swiss National Bank.“The talks of extending a deal (with the Japanese central bank) are being suspended since the deal expired, in the wake of a diplomatic and political row (between Korea and Japan),” Lee told Korean correspondents in Zurich on Tuesday.

South Korea’s national luge team -- made up of nine sliders and six coaches – improved their performance in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games overall.In the team relay, Korea climbed up three notches and came in about 26 seconds faster compared to Sochi Winter Games in 2014. In the women’s individual event, Sung Eun-ryung jumped 11 notches to finish in 18th with an improvement of about 20 seconds.On the back of such performance stood Hana Financial Group, which has extended sup

ZURICH -- The bilateral currency swap deal with Switzerland proves that South Korea's economic fundamentals remain strong and there's trust in fiscal policy, the head of South Korea's central bank has said. Lee Ju-yeol, governor of the Bank of Korea, made the remarks Tuesday after signing the currency swap deal with the chairman of the Swiss National Bank's governing board, Thomas Jordan. The three-year swap agreement enables Korean won and Swiss francs to be purchased and repurchased between th

South Korea and five Central American nations signed a trade deal to lower tariffs and other barriers on a wide range of areas to expand business ties, Seoul's trade ministry said Wednesday. South Korea inked the free trade agreement with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama to ease duties on over 95 percent of goods and open up the service and investment market. Talks on the pact started in June 2015 and covered 24 chapters addressing goods, service and investment, non-tariff

South Korea’s agriculture cooperative-based NH NongHyup Bank developed a system to assess the quality of its customer calls in November and recently had a patent registered for the technology, officials said Tuesday.Built and operated on artificial intelligence and big data, the system gathers customer phone call records, sorts them out according to demands and designates an optimized level of customer service.“The new system will help us keep a more detailed watch on our financial c

The government will soon designate the southeastern city of Gunsan, which has been affected by GM Korea's recent decision to shut down a production facility, as a special employment crisis area, an official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday."The labor ministry decided today to take emergency steps to designate the Gunsan region as an employment crisis area," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told a press briefing. The designation enables emergency government s

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of interviews on promising startups in the financial technology industry. This is the 10th installment. - Ed.Despite living in the era of information technology, financial consumers in South Korea have found it hard to gain access to trustworthy information online about financial products to compare and choose what suits the best.Lee Hye-min, co-chief executive officer of financial technology startup Finda, said financial consumers’ basic necessities

Korea's financial regulator said Tuesday the government will support "normal transactions" of cryptocurrencies, about three weeks after it banned their trading through anonymous bank accounts.The remarks by Choe Heung-sik, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, were seen as being in stark contrast to the government's previous stance that it could consider shutting down local virtual currency exchanges.Korea launched a real-name trading system for cryptocurrency transactions Jan

The government is considering easing the tax burden on smaller firms and extending more financing to bolster their exports, the country's chief economic policymaker said Tuesday.In a meeting with top executives of small and medium enterprises, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon also vowed to lift regulatory hurdles facing them in doing business. "The government is mulling a set of measures to ease the tax burden on smaller firms," Kim said. "We are also looking at various options to b

Non-bank institutions will be allowed to directly engage in currency exchange business starting next month as part of a broader deregulation drive to promote the local financial technology sector, the finance ministry said Tuesday.Under revised regulations on currency exchange, a qualified fintech firm will be able to offer a currency exchange service of up to $2,000 per person through their online platforms. Such fintech firms are required to make a reserve against potential claims from custome

Members of the ruling Democratic Party reacted strongly to a US proposal to impose a massive tariff on South Korean steel imports, saying the country should consider retaliatory measures, such as restrictions on American agricultural imports.The US Commerce Department suggested last Friday slapping a 53 percent tariff on steel imports from a dozen countries, including South Korea, as part of measures to protect the local industry. The proposal came after the US imposed steep tariffs on imports o

SEJONG -- South Korea should change its export strategy to expand its foothold in emerging markets and develop new growth drivers against a series of import restrictions by the United States, Seoul's commerce minister said Tuesday.Paik Un-gyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, said South Korea should be strategic and nimble to manage potential risks from the rising protectionist trade policies under US President Donald Trump, including safeguard measures on washers and solar panels and pro

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Tuesday Korea is being "driven into a difficult situation," citing General Motors' decision to shut down one of its assembly plants in the country and the possibility of a hefty tariff on Korean steel exports to the US."GM Korea decided to shut down its Gunsan plant and the US Trump administration is putting together measures restricting steel imports," Lee said at the start of a Cabinet meeting. "It appears Korea is being driven into a di

Calls are rising for timely measures to stabilize the increasing fluctuation in the value of the Korean won.Economists note a failure to properly respond to currency fluctuations could lead to sparking foreign capital flight or dampening exports that have shored up Asia’s fourth-largest economy.The won has depreciated against the US dollar in recent weeks as the global shock waves prompted by the prospect of steep US rate hikes hit local financial markets.Foreign investors net sold Korean

Lendit, a peer-to-peer lending platform operator in South Korea, has extended a combined 101.8 billion won ($95.4 million) in nearly 7,300 consumer loans as of Monday to midrange borrowers seeking lower interest rates, according to the fintech startup Monday. After its 33 months of operation, Lendit marked the first local P2P lending platform operator fully devoted to consumer loan products to see the accumulated volume of loans top the 100 billion won mark, the company said. Borrowers from