SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Household loans extended by local banks rose 11.8 percent in September from a year earlier due to an increase in collective loans, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 688.4 trillion won (US$613 billion) as of end-September, compared with 615.7 trillion won from [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean investors have been putting a large amount of money in high-return bond funds amid weak economic growth this year, with stock funds suffering a massive outflow, data showed Tuesday. According to the data by fund researcher Zeroin, local investors added a net 5.87 trillion won (US$5.3 billion) [...]
SEOUL, August 2 (Korea Bizwire) – The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) revealed on August 1 that of 85,000 joint sureties issued by 10 loan companies, 23,000 (27.1%) had individuals in their 20s as co-signers. The value of joint loans co-signed by someone in their 20s added up to 79.5 billion won ($71.5 million). Large financial institutions, [...]
SEOUL, July 13 (Korea Bizwire) – Household loans extended by local banks continued to rise at a fast rate in June, apparently on record low interest rates, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans extended by local lenders came to 667.5 trillion won (US$582.67 billion) as of the end of last month, up 6.6 [...]
SEOUL, July 12 (Korea Bizwire) – The latest predictions of the future of the Korean asset management market indicate that the use of robo-advisors, AI-based asset management services, will become more prevalent in coming years. The AI platforms will serve as investment advisors that recommend specific financial products and investment portfolio composition via analysis of [...]
SEOUL, July 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign banks in Korea are going all out to target high-net-worth individuals. With the prolonged decline in net interest margins and the prevalence of mobile banking, banks in Korea have seen former revenue streams dry up. Foreign banks are seeking a breakthrough by diversifying their services in asset management. [...]
SEOUL, July 7 (Korea Bizwire) – “What is the use of interest rates if they are already too low? Aren’t you tired of entering long account numbers every time you transfer money?” Kakao Bank, an Internet-only bank, held a presentation to discuss its business model and the future of its services on Wednesday, July 6, at [...]
SEOUL, July 4 (Korea Bizwire) – 8PERCENT, a P2P (peer-to-peer) lending company, revealed on July 4 that 30-something men who live in metropolitan areas are their primary investors. P2P lending refers to a system where lenders and borrowers make direct monetary exchanges with one another. A P2P lender evaluates the creditability of potential borrowers applying for [...]
SEOUL, June 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Starting next year, anyone issued a new credit card will be able to redeem their reward points without any restrictions. The Korea Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced its “Improvement Plan for Unfair Business Practices of Credit Card Companies” on Tuesday, June 28, which will prohibit credit card companies from placing [...]
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 [...]