SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Hanwha Group, a South Korean defense-to-insurance conglomerate, said Thursday it plans to pay 600 billion won (US$447.8 million) for a controlling stake in the Singaporean offshore plant firm Dyna-Mac Holdings. The group’s two defense and shipbuilding affiliates, Hanwha Aerospace Co. and Hanwha Ocean Co., will make a cash tender [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – The financial regulator said Wednesday it will work to strengthen punishment for illegal money lending businesses and nullify their very contracts that are deemed antisocial. The move follows a recent spike in the number of complaints against loan sharks, which jumped from 10,350 in 2022 to 12,884 last year, [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – The financial regulator on Monday announced plans to revise related laws to require payment gateway (PG) service providers to maintain sufficient funds to settle all payments. The move follows massive payment delays by two e-commerce platforms — TMON and WeMakePrice — due to a liquidity crisis caused by their [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – The government proposed raising the pension contribution rate to 13 percent from 9 percent and differentiating the pace of raising the contribution rate by age group, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said, in what would be the biggest overhaul of the ailing pension system in 21 years. Details of the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s household credit rebounded sharply in the second quarter of the year as home-backed loans increased in the face of tightened lending criteria and high rates, central bank data showed Tuesday. Outstanding household credit reached 1,896.2 trillion won (US$1.419 trillion) at the end of June, up 13.8 trillion [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean banks are scurrying to further raise their lending rates, alarmed by a spike in household loans amid extended easing monetary policy, industry sources said Monday. KB Bank, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank will raise their lending rates on mortgage loans by between 0.1 percentage point and [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks tumbled by the most on record to a near nine-month low Monday amid intensifying fears over a U.S. economic slowdown, with big tech coming under heavy selling. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummeted a record [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — The founder of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp. was arrested Tuesday on charges of stock price manipulation related to the firm’s takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment last year, prosecutors said. The Seoul Southern District Court issued an arrest warrant for Kim Beom-su after holding a hearing, which [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Kim Beom-su, the founder of Kakao Corp., was to attend a court hearing Monday on an arrest warrant requested for him over alleged stock price manipulation related to the firm’s takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment last year. The Seoul Southern District Court was scheduled to hold a hearing [...]
SEOUL, Jul. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Prosecutors have sought a warrant to arrest Kim Beom-su, the founder of tech giant Kakao Corp., over alleged stock price manipulation connected to the firm’s takeover of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment last year, officials said Wednesday. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office filed for the warrant, the officials said, [...]