SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — A month after South Korea fully reinstated short selling across all listed stocks, expectations that foreign investors would return to the domestic market have yet to materialize, despite signs of market resilience and easing volatility. According to data from the Korea Exchange, total short-selling turnover on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Woori Financial Group Inc. got regulatory approval on Friday for the takeovers of two life insurance companies, on condition that the group faithfully implements its planned measures aimed at strengthening its internal control. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), the country’s financial regulator, approved Woori Financial’s takeovers of Tongyang Life [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul shares ended higher Friday, led by gains in tech and shipbuilding stocks, although investors remained cautious about the impact of shifting U.S. tariffs on major companies’ earnings. The Korean won rose sharply against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.18 points, or [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial industry is accelerating efforts to tokenize traditional assets such as stocks, deposits, and loans, positioning blockchain-backed digital certificates as a cornerstone of the sector’s next phase of innovation. According to a recent report by the Korea Institute of Finance, the global transaction volume of real-world asset [...]
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial regulator said Tuesday it plans to ease capital adequacy requirements for insurance companies to help lessen their burdens and raise the quality of their capital base. The Financial Services Commission said it will complete procedures needed to revise related laws on insurers’ capital adequacy ratio by [...]
SEOUL, April 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Daily foreign exchange (FX) trading by banks in South Korea reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2025 on increased demand from cross-border trading and the volatile won-dollar exchange rate, central bank data showed Friday. The daily FX turnover, including trading of derivatives, came to an average [...]
SEOUL, April 25, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading non-life insurers are scaling back coverage for caregiver expense riders as soaring loss ratios threaten profitability. On April 24, 2025, industry officials confirmed that companies including Samsung Fire & Marine and Meritz Fire & Marine have reduced the daily coverage limit for caregiver expenses tied to [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top central banker has said global trade tensions sparked by the United States’ sweeping tariff policy are a major headwind for the country’s export-driven economy, and the issue will likely accelerate its efforts to diversify supply chains. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong made the assessment [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s domestic consumption has entered a prolonged downward trend, driven not by short-term disruptions like COVID-19 or inflation, but by deep-rooted structural issues such as demographic aging, employment patterns, and industrial shifts, according to a new report released on April 23, 2025, by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and [...]
SEOUL, April 23, (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly one-third of insurance policies in South Korea are canceled within two years, with long-term contract retention rates significantly trailing those of major global markets, according to a report released April 22, 2025, by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The report, titled “2024 Insurance Sales Channel Performance and Supervision [...]