SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s stricter lending rules will likely affect about 400,000 potential mortgage borrowers in “speculative districts” in Seoul and the administrative capital of Sejong in the second half of the year, officials said Thursday. In its latest bid to rein in the overheating housing market, the government Wednesday designated [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – Kakao Bank, South Korea’s second Internet-only bank, said Thursday it has attracted over 1.5 million accounts during the first week of operation, far outpacing the growth of its competitor and traditional banks. Kakao Bank, led by Kakao Corp., operator of Korea’s dominant messaging app KakaoTalk, started operations on July [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — Small business owners in South Korea are making moves to adapt to the country’s new minimum wage hike, as a new survey shows nine in ten will downsize to offset the expected economic impact. The surprising findings from a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise last month [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s top financial regulator on Wednesday urged banks and other financial institutions to tighten screenings of applications for home mortgages in a move to block speculative demand for homes before the government’s stricter lending rules go into force. Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Choi Jong-ku made the remarks at [...]
SEJONG, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will raise tax rates for the “super-rich” and big money-making companies, the finance ministry said Wednesday, in what many see as a move to finance the incumbent Moon Jae-in government’s pledges on job creation and expand social welfare. Under its biannual tax revision plan, which requires approval from [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea on Wednesday outlined stricter measures to stabilize the country’s overheating housing market as its previous efforts to curb speculative forces did not work properly. The Moon Jae-in government announced its first real estate measures in June a month after taking office to strengthen lending rules that can [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Chip giant SK hynix Inc. posted the highest operating margin among large-gap companies in the second quarter of the year on its strong semiconductor business, data showed Wednesday. The consolidated operating margin of SK hynix, the crown jewel of South Korea’s No. 3 conglomerate SK Group, came to 45.6 [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — With the likes of Kakao Bank and K-Bank stirring up a storm in the South Korean banking industry, traditional banks are flocking to recruit IT professionals to jump on the online bandwagon. Following the success of online-only banks in recent months that seems to be reshaping the landscape of [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) — A new report has revealed that American and British investors are the biggest traders of South Korean stocks, accounting for over 50 percent of all foreign stock buyers. Data released by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Tuesday showed stocks traded in the South Korean market by foreign investors [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Business sentiment for South Korea’s construction industry fell in July from the previous month due mainly to a decrease in new orders, a poll showed Tuesday. The construction business survey index (CBSI) came to 85.4 last month, down five points from a month earlier and snapping a three-month gaining [...]