In order to improve Korea's suffering trade deficit, a Korean trade lobby group on Wednesday called for the government to ease regulations for foreign businesses. “Korea's export industry, which is mainly composed of intermediate goods and semiconductors that are sensitive to economic fluctuations, is one cause of the sluggish exports. But fundamentally, the global export market share is the key problem,” KITA Vice Chairman Jeong Marn-ki said during a press conference held

James Kim (left), chairman and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, meets with Foreign Minister Park Jin on Tuesday at the ministry's building in Seoul. They are said to have discussed measures to nurture Korea as the top business and investment destination for global companies. (American Chamber of Commerce in Korea)

The top five Korean banks -- KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NongHyup – handed out hefty bonuses last year, after they posted record earnings thanks to higher interest income. The five banks’ bonuses in 2022 amounted to a combined 1.38 trillion won ($1.08 billion), up 35 percent on-year, according to data provided to the Democratic Party of Korea’s Rep. Hwang Un-ha by the Financial Supervisory Service. The FSS data showed that NongHyup gave out the greatest amount in bo

Foreign investors bought listed stocks here worth a net 6.14 trillion won ($4.8 billion) in January, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday. This is the highest net buying amount that South Korea has seen in nine years, since September 2013, when the total was recorded at 8.32 trillion won. It is also the first time since November 2020 that net purchases surpassed 6 trillion won. Most of the investments centered on the Kospi market. Foreign investors’ net buying of Kosp

This is the third part of a series on South Korea’s largest investor, the National Pension Service, analyzing its current status and identifying tasks that lie ahead. -- Ed. The new chief investment officer of the National Pension Service, the country's largest investor, vowed in December last year to be a more vocal shareholder to shore up returns and assert more control over how companies are run. In other words, the CIO aims to more strictly follow the so-called “stewards

South Korea’s top four financial groups -- Shinhan, KB, Hana and Woori – saw their combined net profit last year hitting a record high of 15.85 trillion won ($12.53 billion), largely buoyed by robust interest. This figure broke last year’s record of 14.54 trillion won, as there was an 8.99 percent increase in net profit on-year. Shinhan reclaimed the top position among the four financial firms in Korea by posting a net profit of 4.64 trillion won. Following Shinhan, KB marked

Shinhan Financial Group reclaimed the top position among financial firms in Korea by posting net profit outpacing other players last year. According to Shinhan's earnings report released Wednesday, its net profit marked 4.64 trillion won ($3.68 billion) in 2022, surpassing its cross-town rival KB Financial Group’s net profit by more than 200 billion won. Since KB’s net profit outperformed Shinhan for the first time in 2017, the two top-tier banking groups have been running a nec

IT behemoth Apple announced Wednesday it will launch its mobile payments service Apple Pay in Korea, where rival Samsung has already enjoyed a dominant position in the market for years. “Apple will launch Apple Pay in Korea,” Apple said in a statement without further details. Apple's local partner, Hyundai Card, also released a statement saying it looks forward to collaborating with Apple to introduce the digital wallet to South Korea. "We will share more details in the c

Lee Bok-hyun, chief of the Financial Supervisory Service, pledged to help local finance companies beef up their presence in the overseas market on Monday. The country's financial watchdog will first hold talks with counterparts in Southeast Asia, which are considered the major market for domestic financial firms. “I understand that there are demands from local banks and securities firms, asking the FSS to communicate with foreign financial watchdogs in markets that they have entered,&

  French President Emmanuel Macron's recent proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is believed to be the optimal solution to tackle the country's soon-to-run-out public pension reserves, French economist Philippe Aghion said during an interview with The Korea Herald on Jan. 24. "The best way to deal with the pension deficit is to increase how much time you spend in life working, and that’s what the reform (in France) intends to do – increase the number of years

South Koreans have faced surging electricity, gas and heating bills, with the January inflation index hitting a new high since the 1998 financial crisis. According to the Korean Statistical Information Service on Sunday, the public utility price index -- calculated based on the consumer price index that is considered an inflation barometer -- logged 135.75 points in January, up 31.7 percent from the same month last year. This indicates the highest on-year inflation of monthly energy prices that

KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo delivers a speech during the investor conference KB Investor Insights 2023, held via the financial giant's metaverse platform on Tuesday. During the event, the chairman pledged to boost investor profitability by upgrading expertise and risk-management know-how. (KB Financial Group)

South Korea reached a record-high monthly trade deficit of $12.69 billion in January, mainly due to weakening global demand for semiconductors, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Wednesday. While outbound shipments fell 16.6 percent on-year to $46.27 billion in January -- the largest drop in three years -- imports slipped 2.6 percent on-year to $58.96 billion. This figure broke the previous record high of $9.43 billion in August last year. It is also

Demonstrating a sense of responsibility during a job interview will boost one’s chance of getting hired by large companies in Korea, a report from business lobby group Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed Monday. Since 2008, the quinquennial report has been mainly looking into job recruiting announcements and websites of the top 100 local companies in terms of sales to find out trends in qualification that they seek in their applicants. “As the job market is expected to tu

  The bid by a former head of the country’s top financial regulator for the chairmanship of Woori Financial Group has stoked controversy and rekindled concerns of bureaucratic involvement in the highly regulated banking industry. Lim Jong-ryong was chairman of the Financial Services Commission from 2015 to 2017 under the Park Geun-hye administration. He also served as chairman of NongHyup Financial Group from back in 2013 to 2015. On Wednesday, Woori Financial Group’s union held