South Korea’s financial regulators will have reinforced authority in investigating fraudulent stock trading, becoming closer to the surveillance systems used in the United States and Britain.The Financial Services Commission of Korea is poised to set up the “investigation division,” which will be in charge of fast-track scrutiny of alleged stock manipulation, said regulatory officials on Wednesday.“The authority comes from a close benchmarking of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and t

The National Tax Service on Tuesday launched an investigation into four units of Lotte Shopping, which marked the first time in four years since September 2009.The tax agency dispatched some 150 inspectors into the headquarters of Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart, Lotte Super and Lotte Cinema in Seoul to secure computer hard disks and internal financial statements.Market insiders alleged that the NTS will focus their probe on whether some of the Lotte units exploited tax loopholes or engaged i

Jeju Island is reflecting policymakers’ calls to revitalize the nation’s international education, including in the English language, according to a research report from the Korea Development Institute.There are three international schools for elementary, junior high and high schools students located in the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.Among them are Canada-based Branksome Hall Asia and U.K.-based North London Collegiate School Jeju, both of which are located in the southwestern part of J

Financial regulators recently uncovered a variety of irregular business practices of NongHyup Bank, adding to the lender’s loss totaling 55 billion won ($47.8 million) that was publicized last week.The flagship unit of NongHyup Financial Group was found to have engaged in unauthorized lending worth 41.4 billion won, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday.“In violation of the law, the bank’s bancassurance (sale of insurance products via bank branches) salespeople of were implica

농협은행 방카슈랑스 사업부의 비인가 영업행위가 최근 금융당국에 적발됐다.15일 금융감독원에 따르면 이 은행 36개 지점의 보험모집 종사자 37명은 총 796건의 부당대출을 취급한 혐의를 받고 있다. 지난해 불과 두 달 남짓한 기간에 이들이 당국 몰래 승인해 준 은행 여신은 414억원에 달했다.보험업법 제91조 등에 의하면 금융기관 보험대리점에서 종사하는 사람은 대출 등 불공정 모집의 우려가 있는 상품판매를 할 수 없다.농협은행은 또 총 6천5백억원 이상의 부동산개발금융 대출을 승인했다가 3천4백여억원의 손실을 입었다. 미흡한 여신심사 등으로 인한 부실채권이다.금감원은 농협중앙회에 대한 농협은행의 특혜 여신도 적발했다. 각종 심사 및 산출 절차를 생략한 채 계열사 농협중앙회의 대출요청액 6조3천억원을 전액 승인한 혐의다.지난 2012년 3월 농협중앙회에 대한 적정한 대출금리는 당초 연 5.79%로 산출됐었다. 그러나 가산금리 등을 제외시켜 5.27%로 감면해 준 것으로 드러났다.　(코

International flights to and from South Korea increased significantly from a year earlier in the first half on a growing number of South Koreans going overseas, the government said Friday.In the first six months of the year, the total number of international flights coming to and from the country totaled 167,237, up 9.64 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.“International traffic surged greatly from the same period last year, ref

The total amount invested by South Korean funds in overseas assets rose 7.4 percent in the first half of 2013 from six months earlier as investors’ appetite for safer assets grew, data showed Friday.Local funds’ investment in offshore assets reached 39.7 trillion won ($35.3 billion) as of end-June, compared to 37 trillion won tallied at end-December 2012, the data by the Korea Financial Investment Association showed.The association said the increase came as investors sought after safer assets su

Hyundai Motor Co.’s subcompact Accent became the second best-selling car in Russia in the first half of this year, data showed Friday.Hyundai sold 57,009 units of the Accent, called the Solaris in the Russian market, between January and June, according to data posted on the website of the Association of European Businesses based in Moscow.Still, the sales of the Accent in the first six months represent a 2 percent drop from a year ago.The Accent is followed by the Pride subcompact built by Hyund

The financial regulator said Friday it has taken disciplinary measures against 10 local savings banks for slack management in lending and network security.The Financial Supervisory Service slapped 16 employees at 10 savings banks, including executives, with either cautionary warnings or warnings for lax handling in loan business and securing network safety, according to FSS officials.The names include some of those recently debuted in the market with a new name after they were taken over by majo

The government will accept “preliminary” bids from potential investors for Kwangju Bank and Kyongnam Bank after it puts up a notice on the sale of the two provincial units of Woori Financial Group next Monday.Among the preliminary bidders, state agencies will single out several competitive investors ― the so-called “short list” ― for the taxpayers’ money-injected Woori Financial.The state-led project, however, is likely to face several stumbling blocks. There is a high possibility that the “logi

Financial regulators revealed that NongHyup Bank had engaged in irregular investment practices and breached banking regulations, which led to heavy losses.NongHyup Bank suffered losses of 55.1 billion won ($47.9 million) from reckless investment between 2007 and 2011, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Thursday.A dealer at the bank brought about losses totaling 21.8 billion won after he traded unauthorized financial derivatives 182 times over seven months in 2011.A division of the

금융감독원은 최근 농협은행을 종합 검사해 취급 제한 파생상품 거래로 인한 손실, 부당한 연대보증 요구 등을 적발하고 기관주의를 내렸다고 11일 밝혔다.농협은행은 이번 검사에서 시중은행이라고 보기 어려울 정도로 허술함을 드러냈다.농협은행 파생상품 딜러는 2011년에 은행 내규에서 취급을 제한한 파생상품을 182회 거래해 1천900만달러(218억원)의 손실을 초래했다. 2010년부터 2011년에는 무려 323회에 걸쳐 해외금리선물 등 파생상품의 거래 조건을 전산시스템에 허위로 입력하기도 했다.해외 부동산펀드 투자도 엉망이었다.2007년부터 2009년까지 농협은행은 해외 부동산펀드에 3천300만달러(389억원) 투자 시 전결 규정을 위반해 투자 결정을 했다가 2천830만달러(333억원)의 손해를 봤다.　<관련 영문뉴스>NongHyup Bank sanctioned for incurring W55b lossFinancial regulators revealed that NongHyup Bank