South Korea will be able to borrow up to $60 billion from the US Federal Reserve's "repo facility," designed to help countries secure overnight dollar funding by using their holdings of US Treasury securities, the central bank said Thursday. The deal reached with the Federal Reserve on Tuesday (US time) will allow the Bank of Korea (BOK) to exchange its US Treasury holdings for dollars through the Foreign and International Monetary Authorities (FIMA) Repo Facility at an interest rate

From food to flower delivery services, banks confront platform, retail giants

South Korea's $60 billion currency swap contract with the United States will expire as scheduled later this month as financial and economic situations at home and abroad remain stable, Seoul's central bank said Thursday. The Bank of Korea (BOK) and the US Federal Reserve signed the currency swap contract in March 2020 to ease financial anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic and had since extended the deal three times. It is set to expire on Dec. 31. "The temporary currency swap will e

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INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR / KAKAOBANK CEO YUN HO-YOUNG

Under Yoon’s leadership, KB became first Asian financial group endorsed by SBTI, UN on its net-zero drive

South Korea’s KB Financial Group said Wednesday it has tapped a 55-year-old sales executive to head its flagship KB Kookmin Bank, reflecting the financial giant’s drive to seek transformation in business and target younger people. Lee Jae-keun, KB Kookmin Bank’s current senior executive vice president of the sales division, will become the youngest current CEO in the nation’s banking industry. Lee’s two-year term starts in January once his nomination is approved a

South Korea’s Shinhan Bank said Tuesday it has completed its review of its cross-border wiring and transfer technology for stablecoins, but remained cautious on its actual adoption. Stablecoins are a form of cryptocurrency designed to have a stable value tied to traditional government-backed currencies, or to a commodity such as gold, to dodge the volatilities that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have. “With the stablecoin transactions growing overseas, including JP Morgan&rsqu

South Korean stocks are likely to continue fluctuating in a tight range next week amid concerns about a rise in new coronavirus cases and the rising inflation pressure. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,936.44 points Friday, down 1.16 percent from 2,971.02 points a week ago. After a technical rebound on Monday, the key stock index lost for a fourth consecutive day Friday amid woes over rising inflation and a sharp spike in new virus cases. Investors took to the sid

Banks' average interest rate on mortgage loans rose to the highest level in about three years, central bank data showed Friday, as the government has tightened lending rules to rein in soaring household debt. According to the data by the Bank of Korea (BOK), banks' mortgage loan rate averaged 3.26 percent in October, up 0.25 percentage point from a month earlier. This marked the highest since November 2018, when the corresponding rate was 3.28 percent. Banks' unsecured loan rate also rose 0.4

Complete privatization clears Woori from market concerns over being state-controlled

Renters in posh Seoul neighborhoods struggle to stay afoot as housing boom pushes rents to extreme -- but lure of social status remains powerful

Private fund house MBK Partners said Wednesday it had reached a final close for its second flagship fund at $1.8 billion to invest under a “special situations” strategy. The East Asia-focused opportunistic fund, named MBK Partners SSF II, is estimated to be the largest special situations fund managed by an Asia-based investment firm since 2019, according to market intelligence service firm Preqin. Special situations refer to an investment strategy in which a fund manager bets on a

South Korean commercial real estate services startup Rsquare said Monday it has raised $72 million in series C funding from private equity firm STIC Investments. The proceeds will be used to enhance its property technology that powers its real estate services, strengthen its foothold in the Vietnamese market with a new business launched in June, expand its presence in other Southeast Asian countries including Singapore and Indonesia and hire new talents. STIC Investments is the sole investor

South Korea is poised to welcome a series of listings of real estate investment trusts by the end of this year, with their underlying assets increasingly diversifying, filings showed Monday. A REIT refers to a vehicle designed to offer dividend returns to its investors through incomes from securitized real estate assets, largely perceived as a risk-averse strategy. Seeing stronger investor demand for public REIT stocks this year, Korea will move onward to welcome at least three new REITs bef