SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — People who invested in stocks last year received the highest returns compared with those who betted on real estate, funds, gold and other assets, financial data showed Tuesday. The benchmark KOSPI ended 2017 up 21.76 percent from a year ago. The increase is 15.5 times the 1.4 percent annual [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Loan guarantees among affiliates of South Korea’s large business groups sank in 2017 from a year earlier, the country’s corporate watchdog said Thursday. The total corporate debt payment guarantees made among units of 31 conglomerates reached 257 billion won (US$239 million) as of May 1, down 20 percent, or [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – A surge in life insurance cancellations in the past five years is one symptom of the economic downturn and financial hardships faced by South Korean households. Provided by the Korea Life Insurance Association (KLIA), records show there were 6.59 million life insurance policy cancellations last year, 54.1 percent more [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — More than three out of every 10 South Korean workers have invested in cryptocurrencies to make a quick buck, a recent survey showed Wednesday. Of the 941 salaried people questioned, 31.3 percent have invested in virtual currencies, according to the survey conducted by online job portal Saramin. The average [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee has seen the value of his stock assets rise by nearly 4 trillion won (US$3.7 billion) this year thanks to a rally of the tech giant on the local bourse, a market tracker said Wednesday. According to CEO Score, Lee, who has been hospitalized [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Total assets held by South Korea’s private insurers surpassed the 1,000 trillion won (US$926 billion) mark in 2016, 94 years after the first firm started operations, industry data showed Monday. The 2016 insurance statistical yearbook released by Korea Insurance Development Institute, showed combined assets held by local insurance agencies [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s central bank said Friday that it has selected 12 banks, including six foreign banks, as the lenders responsible for setting prices for direct won-yuan transactions. The Bank of Korea said the lenders will also be charged with taking the lead in providing liquidity to the market. The [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean stocks heavily bought by foreign investors shined on the main stock market, while such issues fared far worse on the tech-heavy secondary market, sources said Friday. The average return of the 10 most heavily purchased stocks by offshore investors stood at a whopping 66.5 percent in the [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 21 (Korea Bizwire) – The Financial Supervisory Services has announced the development of a risk assessment system to measure how protected the South Korean financial industry is from economic slumps and interest rate fluctuations. The new system named STARS-Ⅰ, which stands for the stress test for assessing the resilience and stability of a financial [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Financial authorities will ramp up efforts to crack down on moneylenders targeting young people and seniors from next year. According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), a special task force will be launched as part of a joint effort with the Ministry of the Interior and the Seoul Metropolitan Government [...]