SEJONG, May 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Sluggish global investment stemming from the 2008 global financial crisis has dragged down South Korea’s economic growth by 0.21 percentage point on an annual basis, a report said Tuesday. Global investment was hit hard by the global financial crisis as its portion against the world’s gross demand fell by [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) – More than 1,800 jobs vanished from the financial sector in 2015. Financial institutions have downsized their workforces due to weakening profit margins and the increasing ubiquity of fintech and automated branches, which require fewer employees. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the number of employees at financial institutions [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s steelmaking giant POSCO was the most popular option in the stock markets in the second quarter for foreign investors, market data showed Friday, amid improving sentiments helped by its better-than-expected earnings. According to the data by the Korean Exchange and others, foreign investors bought a net 328.4 [...]
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The chief of the South Korean banks’ association said on Wednesday that the ongoing industrial restructuring will have little impact on local commercial banks, citing their minor exposure to financially troubled companies. In a press conference held in Germany on the sidelines of the 49th Asia Development Bank annual [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) – Although the surge in household debt has been slowing down, the burden on the financially disadvantaged has in fact increased. Concerns are spreading about a ‘Balloon Effect’ as the economically disadvantaged are unable to easily obtain bank loans, and are therefore seeing their debt materialize as loans with onerous [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The gap between the average wages of South Korea and China continued to narrow in 2015, industry data showed Sunday, apparently suggesting that South Korean products may be regaining their price competitiveness over their Chinese counterparts. In 2015, the average minimum wage in China’s five largest cities was 59.2 [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday her administration is “strongly” considering designating a temporary holiday next week to encourage more people to spend and help prop up the national economy. In a luncheon with leaders of major news outlets earlier in the day, Park said she is “positively considering” the [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea will make a stronger push in restructuring financially-troubled shipping and shipbuilding companies, but the restructuring drive itself should be spearheaded by firms and their creditors, the country’s top financial regulator said Tuesday. “Last year, the overall value of ship orders clenched by local shipbuilders stood at US$10 [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – With Korean companies hiring fewer and fewer employees due to the prolonged economic downturn, the newly-unemployed are discovering that obtaining new employment is increasingly difficult, and as such, it is taking them longer to find new jobs. According to Statistics Korea’s Q1 numbers released on Monday, there were 112,000 [...]
SEOUL, April 26 (Korea Bizwire) – Jamsil Sports Complex and its surrounding areas will be transformed into an ambitious new site for international conventions and exhibitions. The Seoul Metropolitan Government decided on a master plan for the area’s transformation on Monday. It’s a grandiose project to establish a global MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) center [...]