Total investment in equity funds has nearly halved since 2007, the Korea Financial Investment Association said Tuesday.The total investment managed by local equity fund managers stood at 85.4 trillion won ($80.4 billion) as of October 2013, compared with 140.2 trillion won in late 2008, when the local stock market was hit by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.Equity fund investments are generally carried out against the stock price index, such as the KOSPI, as investors tend to buy them low, befo

The country’s most expensive apartment of the year was not located in the wealthy Gangnam district but in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. It is in the Galleria Foret complex built by Hanwha Engineering & Construction.A 241-square-meter Galleria Foret apartment was sold for 4.4 billion won ($4.1 million) in September, a private real estate information provider revealed Monday.“The apartment has great views that overlook Seoul Forest and the Hangang River, and comes with great facilities and you-know-who nei

U.S. investigative authorities are reportedly expanding their investigation into JPMorgan’s alleged practice of hiring the children of high-level Chinese officials in return for business favors to similar activities in Korea, Singapore and India.South Korean financial authorities said Sunday that they had yet to receive any request for cooperation in the probe.The New York Times reported Saturday that the three countries were the focus of the probe, led by the U.S. Department of Justice and the

The National Tax Service said Sunday that it plans to form a task force to further crack down on offshore tax evaders in an effort to secure revenue needed for the government’s welfare pledges.The special team, consisting of tax investigators and lawyers, will take full advantage of its information resources through global pacts with 80 countries that also aim to curb tax evasion. Also, NTS commissioner Kim Duk-joong and tax chiefs from 16 countries agreed to expand cooperation in a Study Group

The local securities industry is engaged in controversy as many brokerage houses have overestimated their outlooks for listed companies’ operating performances, elevating the anxiety of non-institutional investors.They overestimated the total earnings of companies on the main and secondary bourses by about 20 percent above the actual outcome on average over three quarters from October 2012 to June 2013, according to data of financial info provider FnGuide.The financial researcher, in partnership

Korea’s economy grew 3.3 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier and 1.1 percent from the previous quarter mainly due to increased private spending and facility investment, the central bank said on Friday.The on-year performance marks the highest growth in gross domestic product since the last quarter of 2011, which posted 3.4 percent. “The (country’s) economic growth rate in the third quarter is seen to be on the path of going up,” said Jung Young-taek, the head of the economic statist

The Industrial Bank of Korea won this year’s “Best Automation Project Award” from the Asian Banker, an Asia-Pacific financial magazine, the bank said on Friday. The honor recognizes the country’s first banking delivery services launched by IBK in August 2011. Dubbed “The Portable IBK,” the financial delivery service has IBK sales employees carry briefcases with equipment needed to open accounts, for card signups and other common bank services. The Portable IBK was recognized for its innovative s

Hana Bank won three awards in the “2013 Technology Implementation Awards Korea” event hosted by the Asian Banker, an Asia-Pacific financial magazine, the bank said on Tuesday. Hana was presented with this year’s Best Mobile Banking Project Award, Best Mobile Social Media Project Award and Best Mobile Security Project Award, in recognition of its outstanding performance in financial technologies and services, according to bank officials.Since launching the country’s first smartphone banking syste

The Financial Supervisory Service hosted an investor relations convention in Shanghai on Wednesday to attract foreign ship-financing investment to Korea’s No. 1 port city, Busan.About 110 leaders from 68 shipbuilding-related institutions, including Chinese financial institutions, global ship-financing firms, Shanghai Shipping Exchange and Shanghai Shipowners’ Association, attended the Korean financial regulator’s event.The Shanghai IR session was aimed at promoting the advantages of Busan as a c

KB Financial Group, NongHyup Financial Group and PineStreet Group submitted their bids on Monday for the takeover of Woori Financial Group’s brokerage arm. Woori Financial Group officially closed the preliminary bidding for Woori Investment & Securities Co. at 5 p.m. on the day, fueling competition among the three local financial institutions. The price for the deal is estimated to be around 2 trillion won ($1.9 billion), according to analysts. Following the financial authorities’ decision to pr