South Korea’s foreign currency reserves hit an all-time high for four consecutive months as of June this year, central bank data showed Wednesday. Rising reserves, coupled with the moderate level of foreign currency debt and expense in foreign trade, translate into Korea’s robust external stability, according to the government.The accumulated volume of foreign currency reserves including gold came to $400.3 billion in Korea, up $1.3 billion, or 0.3 percent, compared to the previous m

South Korea’s financial market on Tuesday rebounded from Monday’s dip that had brought the top-tier Kospi and second-tier Kosdaq to the lowest in 2018.But analysts noted the market will remain exposed to external uncertainties including persisting trade war threats between China and the US, rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve in sight and widening currency volatility.  Stock markets in Korea found bottoms in Tuesday closing. The Kospi edged up 0.1 percent to close at 2,272.76

South Korea said Sunday that its records on currency market intervention in the second half of this year will be posted on the website of the Bank of Korea in March of 2019.The move is part of South Korea's efforts to boost transparency and clear itself of suspicion of exercising undue influence on exchange rates. The information subject to disclosure is the net amount of US dollars used for selling and buying by South Korea's currency authorities. The quarterly releases will begin in the third

South Korea's retail investors bought up a net 9.5 trillion won ($8.52 billion) worth of local shares in the first half of 2018, as institutional investors and foreigners sold off their holdings, market data showed Sunday. Data by Korea Exchange and Koscom Corp. -- the systems manager of South Korean bourse operator -- revealed that the buying spree was the largest tallied for the six month period since 2000.The purchase data show small-time investors effectively buying up the net 4.4 trillion w

The Financial Services Commission on Sunday presented a comprehensive risk management road map for business groups owning financial units, raising the baseline for capital adequacy. Starting Monday, the financial regulator is to activate a special supervision system seeking to detect the financial risk exposure level of subject groups and to prevent risk transfer among affiliates, it said in a release.During the six-month trial period, seven business groups -- Samsung, Hanwha, Kyobo, Mirae Asset

South Korea‘s financial technology startup True Short unveiled Thursday a service that tracks information related to institutional short sellers’ activities.The service, run on paid subscriptions on True Short online platform, aims to enable retail investors to gain access to information exclusive to institutional investors and take pre-emptive actions against a possible fall in stock price due to institutional short-selling practice.The service offers a listed share‘s outstand

The chief of South Korea's corporate watchdog said Thursday that his agency will get tough on any unfair business practices."Unfair terms of contracts for subcontractors and any other business practices, such as an unreasonable cut in selling prices, would be targeted by our investigation," Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo said during a meeting with heads of ship-parts suppliers in Busan.The FTC has been stressing that it will promote fair business practices and take stern me

South Korea’s financial watchdog said Wednesday it will inspect three banks alleged to have overcharged borrowers for more loans by incorrectly calculating the interest. On Tuesday, KEB Hana Bank, Citibank Korea and Kyongnam Bank were revealed to have taken a combined 2.7 billion won ($2.4 million) in revenue from information input errors such as omitting the borrowers’ income or collateral in lending rate calculations. The Financial Supervisory Service said they will be first lookin

The Korea Exchange, South Korea‘s sole market operator, has moved to boost investor attention to small cap shares through a new web portal launched in May.The core function of the web portal, dubbed “Smile,” is to release technology analysis reports of small-cap companies that have little analyst coverage. Analysts in Korea have found it hard to cover all listed shares -- the number of which amounts to 2,000 in the top-tier Kospi and the second-tier Kosdaq combined. By tea

Lawmakers have proposed bills to regulate peer-to-peer lending and cryptocurrencies, but the bills have gained little momentum in the National Assembly, industry watchers said Monday.Rep. Min Byung-doo of the ruling Democratic Party and Rep. Kim Su-min of the minor opposition Bareunmirae Party filed two separate bills to regulate P2P lending firms in July last year and in February, respectively.With the bills still pending in the National Assembly, financial authorities have been struggling to t

Woori Bank has acquired Cambodia’s microfinance institution VisionFund Cambodia, becoming a South Korean financial company with the largest offshore retail branch network. Through the acquisition, the Cambodian entity with $196 million total asset as of end-2017 earned the new name of WB Finance, according to Woori Bank Sunday.  The institution with 106 branches across the nation will play the role in microfinance deposit-taking, according to a Woori Bank spokesperson. As a resul

This is the 57th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. -- Ed. Genie Music Corporation, South Korea‘s second-largest music streaming and downloading platform operator by monthly active users, is gaining investor attention on anticipation that it will shake up the local industry through a forthcoming acquisition deal. On Friday, Genie Music’s market cap in market‘s close came to 337.5 billion won ($303.4 million), the 153rd-larg

Three former Samsung Securities employees were arrested on Thursday for selling unauthorized shares mistakenly given to them as dividends in April.The Seoul Nambu District Court approved the arrest warrants sought for three of the four former employees by the prosecution, citing risk of flight and/or evidence tempering. The court said one of the four did not require to be placed under arrest as the person did not appear to have actively participated in the wrongdoing.The former employees face ch

The chief of South Korea's corporate watchdog said Thursday that his agency will redouble its efforts to regain the trust of citizens amid the prosecution's probe into alleged job irregularities involving former senior officials.On Wednesday, investigators raided the offices of the Fair Trade Commission as part of an investigation into allegations that former senior officials of the anti-trust watchdog landed jobs they were not supposed to after retirement.Investigators from the Seoul Central Pr