SEOUL, Apr. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Growth in South Korea’s auto insurance market slowed last year due to intensifying competition and lower premiums, data showed Wednesday. The car insurance market grew 2.7 percent on-year to 16.8 trillion won (US$15.7 billion) in 2017, according to the data by the Financial Supervisory Service. The figure contrasts with [...]
SEOUL, Apr. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — Local banks reduced their workforces and branch offices last year by the greatest number since 2000, with digitalization-driven downsizing accelerating, data from the financial regulator showed Sunday. The number of employees in the banking sector at the end of last year totaled 111,173, down 3,602 from the previous year, [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Major foreign investment banks (IBs) have forecast South Korea’s central bank to hike interest rates once this year due to the fallout from growing protectionism and a slowdown in job creation, a report said Friday. The projection runs counter to views by some market watchers that the Bank of [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — The government has announced a series of reforms to boost the South Korean financial technology industry, which could see brand new products including artificial intelligence-based insurance products introduced. The plans revealed by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) on Tuesday revealed a number of new financial products, including insurance products based [...]
SEOUL, March 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Members of South Korea’s central bank policy board agreed to freeze the key rate last month as inflation pressure remained low and economic growth was moderate, according to minutes from the monetary meeting released Tuesday. The Bank of Korea’s (BOK) monetary policy board meeting on Feb. 27 held the base rate at 1.50 percent for the second time in a row since raising the rate for the first time in more than six years [...]
SEOUL, March 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea dropped for the second-straight month in February amid the strong U.S. dollar trend, central bank data showed Thursday. Foreign currency deposits held by banks here reached US$80.96 billion at the end of February, down $940 million from a month earlier, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea (BOK). It said [...]
SEOUL, March 14 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday promised his country’s continued cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), hailing the bank’s role in the development of countries in the region. “ADB’s contribution to the development and growth of our Asian region has been great. I believe ADB’s role will continue to be very important in the [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Bank, South Korea’s second Internet-only bank, said Thursday it will launch a rights offering worth 500 billion won (US$467.7 million) by April to beef up its capital. It will be the second time that Kakao Bank, which was launched last July, raised its capital via a rights offer. [...]
SEOUL, March 2 (Korea Bizwire) – President Moon Jae-in is expected to announce the nominee for the next governor of the Bank of Korea (BOK) early next week, a presidential official said Friday. Asked whether the presidential office will make the announcement next Monday, the official replied, “It is likely.” BOK Gov. Lee Ju-yeol’s four-year term concludes at the end of this month and the new BOK head is facing challenges [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s four major financial holding firms saw their net profits rise last year as interest income increased, according to industry data on Thursday. The combined net profit of KB Financial, Shinhan Financial, Hana Financial and Woori Bank stood at 9.77 trillion won (US$8.98 billion) lastyear, up more than 30 percent from a year earlier. KB Financial’s net profit jumped 54.5 percent on-year last year, and [...]