South Korea is pushing hard for a free trade pact with the United States to take effect on Jan. 1, but Washington wants more time for preparations, a U.S. news provider reported Friday.The two sides had working-level discussions on a timetable on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, but th

More than half of securities company chiefs in Korea are about see the end of their terms, signaling a wave of management changes in the brokerage industry.According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, 29 out of 49 securities firms will see their tenures end next year.In particular, most of the 10 major securities firms are affected. Samsung Securities replaced its CEO on Dec. 7.The current figures include Daewoo Securities CEO Im Kee-young, Woori Investment and Securities CEO Hwang S

1.6-liter Gamma engine selected for the ‘Best 10 Engines’ list by U.S. auto mediaHyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors became the No. 1 and No. 2 foreign carmakers, respectively, in Russian markets in November, according to industrial data.Hyundai posted sales of 17,283 units in Russia last month, maintaining the No. 1 position for the third consecutive month, according to the Association of European Businesses.Kia ranked second with sales of 15,115 units, overtaking GM Chevrolet with sales

Industrial Bank of Korea CEO Cho Joon-hee unveiled his business policy to lower the maximum interest rate on loans to below 10 percent next year.Under the CEO’s commitment, the state-run bank is poised to provide the lowest lending rates in the local commercial banking sector.“We are pushing for the loan rate cut as households and enterprises are expected to suffer a heavier financial burden amid gloomy predictions over the 2012 economy,” Cho told reporters.To make up for curtailed profit from t

Three U.S. automakers are expected to pick up their marketing and sales in Korea to battle Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which will take effect early next year.In addition, a great number of Japanese cars produced in the U.S. will likely be imported under the coming slash in tariff on automobiles.Tariff on made-in-U.S. automobiles will be lowered from 8 percent to 4 percent under the bilateral trace pact. Further, the 4 percent tariff will be removed in

Hyundai’s Accent sedan ranked first in the small sedan segment in the Chinese market, customer satisfaction survey showed Wednesday.This was the first time that Hyundai topped the list in a product rating for satisfaction among Chinese consumers, which was conducted by U.S.-based J.D. Power and Associates.The Accent, dubbed Verna in China, garnered 854 points out of a maximum 1,000 in the poll among consumers who bought automobiles between October 2010 and June 2011.The Hyundai sedan tied with t

Private lenders saw their outstanding loans snowball by more than 1 trillion won ($877 million) in the first six months of the year.Outstanding loans extended by private lenders reached 8.63 trillion won at the end of June, up 14.2 percent from 7.56 trillion won at the end of December 2010, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.The number of borrowers in the industry also increased by 267,000 from about 2.2 million to 2.47 million during the period, the FSS said.Credit-based lending acc

Korea’s automakers saw their exports to European countries surge 40.1 percent on a year-on-year basis, which could be interpreted as an outcome of the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement that took effect in early July.Five carmakers including Hyundai Motor posted 347,207 units in exports to EU countries for the first 10 months of 2011, compared to 247,909 units over the same period last year.The 40.1 percent growth is noteworthy, considering the growth of their total exports around the world was 13.2

Unionized workers of Korea Exchange Bank have mapped out a plan for a general strike, calling on Hana Financial Group to scrap its preliminary deal with Lone Star Funds.Their plan comes after Hana Financial signed a revised preliminary deal to take over KEB from Lone Star over the weekend.Despite the two parties’ recent agreement to lower the takeover price, the KEB union said it is against Hana’s move to pay Lone Star huge management premiums.“According to the situation, we could choose to stag

Customers’ card payment ceilings likely to be slashed to reduce soaring household debtTough screenings are expected for applications for new credit cards, starting later this month, as financial authorities strengthen supervision of card firms. Customers will also likely see monthly payment ceilings on new credit cards slashed sharply compared to the average ceiling on current cards, according to financial regulators.As part of policymakers’ efforts to curb snowballing household debt, the Financ

Hana Financial Group chairman Kim Seung-yu has pledged to ensure the job security of about 8,000 Korea Exchange Bank employees if the group successfully acquires the lender.During a news conference on Sunday, Kim downplayed the possibility that Hana will conduct a massive manpower restructuring after a merger.He also said the financial group will file a bank merger application with the Financial Services Commission on Monday.The application will seek the regulatory approval of Hana Financial’s r

Hana Financial Group has reached an agreement with Lone Star Funds on lowering the takeover price for Korea Exchange Bank, Dow Jones Newswires reported Thursday.An anonymous source was quoted by the U.S.-based news provider as saying that “Hana Financial agreed to a deal with Lone Star Funds to buy a 51.02 percent stake in Korea Exchange Bank for 3.916 trillion won ($3.48 billion), 11 percent lower than the original sales price of 4.41 trillion won.”A Hana spokesman declined to confirm the repor