SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Debt incurred by households and self-employed businesses in South Korea is estimated to surpass 2,000 trillion won (US$1,713 billion) as of September last year, according to central bank data on Sunday. Outstanding household loans came to 1,481 trillion won at the end of last September, up 13.6 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea formally launched an open banking service on Wednesday in the latest move to boost convenience and lower transaction costs for customers. The new system allows bank customers to use any mobile banking application of their choosing to access their bank accounts at any local bank and to [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial regulator on Monday granted preliminary approval for a new internet-only bank, a move that could further fuel competition with established bigger players and foster the fledging market. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) gave the initial approval to the consortium led by South Korean fintech firm Viva [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to set up a fund of 300 billion won (US$252 million) to help fintech startups become unicorns with a valuation of more than US$1 billion, Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday. Hong made the remarks at a meeting with economy-related ministers in Seoul to discuss how [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 2.2 million South Koreans have subscribed to a pilot open banking service in less than one month after its launch, data showed Thursday. Users of the new service, which was launched Oct. 30, numbered 2.27 million as of Tuesday after exceeding the 1 million mark in just [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean banks are going beyond past practices to collaborate with other industries. KB Kookmin Bank’s Liiv Mobile is gaining the attention of the financial services market by combining finance and communications technology. Current legislation states that banks cannot engage in business activities outside of their traditional domain. However, [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean banknotes have different lifetimes depending on their face value, with larger bills outliving the smallest bills by up to three times due mostly to the frequency of their use, a central bank report showed Tuesday. According to the report from the Bank of Korea (BOK), the country’s [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Big brokerages in South Korea saw their investment banking unit report solid profits in the first nine months of this year, overtaking commission fees as their main profit driver, data showed Monday. Mirae Asset Daewoo Co., the nation’s largest brokerage, reported an operating profit of 249.8 billion won (US$214.6 [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — A non-profit financial organization has introduced a new service to analyze the usage of ATMs across a number of regions. The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC) will begin testing the cash dispensers (CD) and automated teller machines (ATM) operational effectiveness diagnostic services jointly with the banking sector [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Local securities firms are moving quickly to preempt the emerging retirement pension market as a future growth engine. The government will push for the mandatory introduction of retirement pensions through a legal revision, while introducing a retirement pension fund for small and medium-sized companies. The plan is aimed at [...]