SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s securities industry faces an unabated wave of layoffs this year as brokerages strive to bolster their bottom lines and cut costs amid a bearish stock market and growing online stock trading, experts said Wednesday. Over the past several years, local securities companies have been trimming their workforces [...]
SEOUL/SEJONG, Jan. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – China’s sudden stock crash could increase financial volatility requiring tougher government monitoring though its impact on the local market would be limited, South Korea’s top economic policymaker said Tuesday. In a meeting with leaders from the country’s financial sector in Seoul, Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan pointed out Monday’s crash [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 5 (Korea Bizwire) -South Korea downplayed the impact of China’s stock market crash on its domestic financial market on Tuesday, saying the market will regain stability again. Chinese stock tumbled nearly 7 percent Monday on the year’s first trading session due to concerns over its manufacturing sector, rattling South Korean and other financial [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 4 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s finance minister said Monday that it is necessary to push for sweeping reforms in all sectors in order to succeed in a tough environment in the new year and achieve its economic goal. “We will face a more difficult environment in the new year. Global uncertainties are [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean firms may experience a credit crisis this year after a number of them have suffered cuts in their credit ratings, market observers said Sunday. According to Korea Ratings, one of the country’s three largest credit appraisers, the number of local firms suffering credit rating downgrades in 2015 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Korea Bizwire) - South Korea’s top central banker said Thursday he will continue an easing monetary policy in 2016 to boost growth while guarding against any financial instabilities. “It is necessary to put the focus on downward risks in economic growth and prices, while closely checking the macroeconomic circumstances,” Bank of Korea Gov. [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 30 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s antitrust watchdog said Wednesday that it has ordered Hyundai Motor Group to resolve cross-shareholding ties derived from an intra-group merger and acquisition (M&A) between its two steelmaking units, amid the agency’s recent push to break the cobweb-like shareholding structures of conglomerates. Hyundai Steel Co. was merged with [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) – South Korea needs to revive its economic dynamics to achieve sustainable growth, as it may face a drop in growth potential due to the rapidly aging population, a director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Sunday. “The Bank of Korea (BOK) estimated that South Korea’s growth potential is around 3 to 3.2 percent, but it will likely drop to below 3 percent in the long-term due to structural [...]
SEJONG/SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s antitrust watchdog Sunday said the intra-group merger and acquisition (M&A) deal by Samsung affiliates strengthened banned cross-shareholding ties within the conglomerate that need to be resolved. According to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the merger between Cheil Industries Inc. and Samsung C&T Corp. on Sept. 1 reduced [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) – Mirae Asset Group, one of South Korea’s leading asset managers, has been picked as the preferred bidder to take over the country’s second-largest brokerage house Daewoo Securities Co., its main creditor said Thursday. The deal is expected to change the landscape of the brokerage industry as the deal will [...]