South Korea‘s top financial watchdog on Thursday unveiled measures to enhance external auditors’ independence, by making it mandatory for auditors to add risk assessments on auditors’ reports.A task force under the Financial Services Commission, steered by the watchdog‘s vice chairman Kim Yong-beom, said that from 2019, an accountant in an auditor’s report must include key audit matters such as risks from revenue recognition, as well as clients’ actions after

The South Korean government is looking to the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as beacon for providing additional means and opportunity in which the country can expand its economic territory and extend multilateral Free Trade Agreement talks with leaders from Eurasian nations, according to local trade officials on Thursday. 　The winter games, which will launch in February, will play host to a sleuth of economic and political figures from the Eurasian Economic Union, including Russia, Be

The nation's household debt hit a record high in the third quarter, despite the government’s set of measures including stricter loan regulations, according to the central bank.The outstanding total of household debt stood at 1,419.1 trillion won ($1.3 trillion) in the July-September period, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, preliminary data by the Bank of Korea showed Wednesday. The amount was also a 2.2 percent rise from the previous quarter.The latest data came a week before the BOK is

The ratio of South Korea's short-term foreign debt to its foreign reserves hit the highest level in two years in the third quarter, central bank data showed Thursday.The country's short-term external debt -- with a maturity of one year or less -- totaled $119.8 billion as of the end of September, up $2.5 billion from three months earlier, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.The end-September figure accounted for 29.3 percent of the country's total external debt, the highest percentage sin

The trading volume of South Korea's exchange traded funds has jumped more than seven times this month amid the white-hot run of the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market, industry data showed Thursday.The combined trading volume of three ETFs operated by Samsung Asset Management Co. came to 29.44 million shares as of Tuesday, up 7.33 times from the start of November.The net asset value of the three ETFs stood at about 1.2 trillion won ($1.1 billion), the largest among the local ETF markets. Their turnover al

Biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. and biotech company SillaJen Inc. have been the main targets of short sellers on the secondary KOSDAQ market this month after leading the market's recent red-hot run, industry sources said Thursday.The volume of short-sold Celltrion shares came to 3.39 million shares in the first 21 days of this month, the largest among companies registered on the tech-laden stock market.The figure accounts for slightly over 10 percent of the total amount of short-sold share

South Korean savings banks' household lending has soared nearly 20 percent over the past year to top the 20 trillion-won ($18.3 billion) mark despite their high interest, central bank data showed Thursday.Savings banks' outstanding household loans stood at 20.6 trillion won as of end-September, up 19.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea.Amid softer property regulations and easier access to credit, such loans had been growing at a fast clip since 2013, with

The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics are hoped to expedite South Korea's economic cooperation with other countries, especially with Eurasian nations with which the country is seeking a free trade agreement, trade-related officials said Thursday.The PyeongChang Games, opening in February, will bring a substantial number of foreign political and economic leaders to South Korea, naturally providing venues to address bilateral and multilateral issues. Officials hope that one of the opportunities wil

The overseas corporations of major South Korean banking groups have been recommended to build up their pre-emptive risk management capacities, according to financial supervisors.The Financial Supervisory Service recently issued an attention-level management recommendation to Woori America Bank, the US corporation of Woori Bank, asking that it level out its loan portfolio, officials said Wednesday.As the notice is a nonbinding administrative guidance, it is up to the company to voluntarily make t

South Korean stocks closed higher Wednesday as investors scooped up large-cap tech shares following overnight gains on Wall Street, analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 9.81 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,540.51. Trade volume was slim at 254 million shares worth 4.7 trillion won ($4.2 billion), with losers outnumbering advancers 475 to 341.The broad index opened higher taking a cue from overnight gains on Wall Street. On Tu

The Moon Jae-in administration has vowed to go all out to expand economic cooperation and personnel exchanges between South Korea and Southeast Asian nations in the coming years.President Moon used his seven-day trip to Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines earlier this month to trumpet what has been dubbed the New South Policy.He told regional business leaders that South Korea would seek to double its annual trade with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to over $200 billion b

Standard Chartered Bank Korea is promoting a fixed deposit product online that offers an interest rate of up to 2.3 percent, before tax, the bank said in a statement Wednesday. The interest rate of the product will go up according to the amount of deposits raised through the promotion.  If the product raises more than 100 billion won ($91.7 million), the bank will offer an annual interest rate of 2.3 percent for depositors, with the minimum rate guaranteed at 1.7 percent even if the volume

Despite Korea experiencing a boom in exports in the semiconductor industry, overall export growth for Korean goods is expected to fall short of the overall growth rate of worldwide trade due to worsening international competitiveness, according to the Bank of Korea on Wednesday.　The central bank forecast Korea’s exports would see 3.7 percent growth this year compared to last year. However, the figure is 0.5 percentage point lower than the International Monetary Fund’s global trade gr

South Korea again saw a steep slide in the number of newborn babies in September as the country is expected to experience record low childbirths in 2017, government data showed Wednesday.About 30,100 babies were born in the month, down 12.5 percent, or 4,300, from 34,400 tallied a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea.The monthly childbirths have decreased every single month since December 2015 with a double-digit decline continuing for 10 straight months. The number of newbo

One out of five people holding doctoral degrees are jobless in South Korea, the highest rate since recordkeeping began in 2014, official data showed Wednesday.Some 22.9 percent of people who earned doctorates locally this year are without jobs, according to the Korean Statistical Information Service. For previous years, the figures were 21.3 percent in 2014, 20.3 percent in 2015 and 21.6 percent last year.Another 2.8 percent were not looking for employment at the time of the survey, which was he