Government hurriedly takes follow-up fiscal measures after initial program’s bottleneck

Consumer financing firms in South Korea saw their combined net profit gain 5.7 percent in 2019 from a year earlier on the back of a robust gain in interest income, data showed Wednesday. The combined net profit of 107 credit financial firms stood at 2.05 trillion won ($1.68 billion) in 2019, up 111.2 billion won from a year earlier, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). Their interest income rose 6.7 percent on-year to 5.66 trillion won in 2019, the data showed.

The issuance of asset-backed securities (ABS) in South Korea surged in the first quarter from a year earlier due mainly to a hike in sales of mortgage-backed securities, the financial watchdog said Wednesday. A combined 22.7 trillion won ($18.5 billion) worth of ABS was issued in the January-March period, up 12.9 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). ABS are backed by underlying assets, such as auto loans, home loans, credit card receivable

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has signed an agreement with major local retailers to further expand its pilot program to go coinless, the bank said Wednesday. Under the memorandum of understanding, signed Tuesday, convenience store chains E-Mart 24 and Ministop will now deposit any change left from cash purchases directly to customers' bank accounts when requested, according to the BOK. The agreement adds more than 7,000 convenience stores to the list of places where such services are available, alo

SEJONG -- South Korea's overall industrial output fell 0.3 percent in March from a month earlier, data showed Wednesday, as the coronavirus pandemic hit exports and private consumption. The data compiled by Statistics Korea, however, showed production in the mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries rose 4.6 percent from a month earlier. From a year earlier, overall industrial output also gained 0.6 percent. The output in the service sector declined 4.4 percent on-month, markin

South Korean companies’ stock and bond sales fell 6 percent in March from a month earlier due to a decline in sales of corporate debt, data showed Tuesday. Local companies raised a combined 16.11 trillion won ($13.1 billion) by selling stocks and bonds in March, down 1.02 trillion won since February, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service. The decline is attributable to the 7.4 percent on-month fall in debt offerings to 15.64 trillion won, the FSS said. Last month,

Major South Korean securities companies racked up weak earnings in the first quarter mainly due to the market rout caused by the coronavirus outbreak, industry data showed Tuesday. Of the major brokerage houses, KB Securities Co. posted an operating loss of 20.8 billion won ($17 million) in the January-March period, swinging from last year's operating profit of 117.6 billion won. The firm logged a net loss of 14.7 billion won, compared with a profit of 87.3 billion won a year ago. Shinhan In

SEJONG -- South Korea needs an additional 4.6 trillion won ($3.8 billion) to give coronavirus relief handouts to every household, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Tuesday, as part of the government's plans to ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. South Korea had originally planned to give relief handouts to households that rank in the bottom 70 percent of gross income, but it changed the plans to provide the handouts to every household. Hong told a parliamentary meeting

South Korea's consumer sentiment hit the lowest in more than a decade in April, central bank data showed Tuesday, amid concerns over the new coronavirus. The country's composite consumer sentiment index came to 70.8 in the month, down 7.6 points from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists. The reading for April marks the lowest since December 2008, but the rate of drop slowed from an 18.5-point on-month pl

Despite ranking above Japan for 3 years in a row, cheap local currency fosters precarious superiority

Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki held a meeting with heads of economic organizations on Monday to discuss economic relief packages for companies hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry said Monday. The meeting is aimed at hearing opinions from experts as South Korea seeks to stimulate economic growth after apparently bringing the coronavirus outbreak under control. Heads of economic organizations called for the government to swiftly implement financial aid programs for virus-hit bu

To shore up the global economy and contain the fallout from COVID-19, South Korea will provide $400 million for health projects in developing countries and postpone the maturity of debts worth $110 million, the country’s fiscal chief said Monday. Also, to keep up the momentum of the Moon Jae-in administration’s New Southern Policy and New Northern Policy, the government will double the volume of its official development assistance to $7 billion over the next three years. “

Insurance companies in South Korea saw their risk-based capital ratio fall in the fourth quarter of last year, data showed Monday. The risk-based capital (RBC) ratio -- the actual solvency capital divided by the minimum solvency capital required -- of insurance firms stood at 269.5 percent at the end of December, down 17.4 percentage points from three months earlier, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The RBC ratio is required to stay above the regulatory stan

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said Monday it will deliver an additional $1.26 billion to local banks under its currency swap deal with the US Fed in a move to help stabilize the local foreign exchange market. The BOK held its fifth online auction to provide up to $4 billion. Bids undershot the target amount, possibly indicating the stabilization of the local market, the BOK noted. "Considering that bids fell short of those of last week (at $2.12 billion), the recent drop in the London Interba

Four in 10 major listed firms in South Korea pulled off earnings surprises in the first quarter of this year despite the coronavirus pandemic, market data said Monday. Fourteen out of the 35 companies listed on the country's main and secondary stock markets posted first-quarter operating income that were more than 10 percent higher than market consensuses, according to the data from Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The firms covered the ones that unveiled first-qu