SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Corp., the operator of the country’s top mobile messenger service Kakao Talk, will launch debit cards next week to jump into the offline payment business, company officials said Friday. Promotional events are already under way before the official launch Wednesday for the debit cards that will be linked [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s first Internet-only bank, K-Bank, hopes to raise 500 billion won (US$469.7 million) in a new share sale during the first quarter of this year, the bank’s chief executive said Wednesday. However, Shim Seong-hoon, CEO of K-Bank, said he did not set the target in the planned stock [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Twice as many exclusive licenses for insurance products were handed out in 2017 compared to the year prior, a record breaking number. The surge in what are essentially insurance product patents was caused by two factors: the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard 17 (IFRS17), and the government’s modification [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – A hike in the base rate by the South Korean central bank is expected to increase funding costs of local businesses, a report said Tuesday, amid the recent trend of monetary normalization. According to the report published by the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF), if the Bank of Korea [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government has been developing a system that is likely to start banning the use of anonymous accounts in cryptocurrency transactions from around Jan. 20, financial industry sources said Tuesday. The system is a part of follow-up measures after the government announced last week a set of [...]
SEJONG, Dec. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Loan guarantees among affiliates of South Korea’s large business groups sank in 2017 from a year earlier, the country’s corporate watchdog said Thursday. The total corporate debt payment guarantees made among units of 31 conglomerates reached 257 billion won (US$239 million) as of May 1, down 20 percent, or [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – A surge in life insurance cancellations in the past five years is one symptom of the economic downturn and financial hardships faced by South Korean households. Provided by the Korea Life Insurance Association (KLIA), records show there were 6.59 million life insurance policy cancellations last year, 54.1 percent more [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — Total assets held by South Korea’s private insurers surpassed the 1,000 trillion won (US$926 billion) mark in 2016, 94 years after the first firm started operations, industry data showed Monday. The 2016 insurance statistical yearbook released by Korea Insurance Development Institute, showed combined assets held by local insurance agencies [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – Financial authorities will ramp up efforts to crack down on moneylenders targeting young people and seniors from next year. According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), a special task force will be launched as part of a joint effort with the Ministry of the Interior and the Seoul Metropolitan Government [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The South Korean central bank will take a more prudent stance on tightening its monetary policies in the future by checking the pace of economic recovery and inflation pressure, minutes from the latest rate-hike meeting showed Tuesday. The Bank of Korea’s (BOK) monetary policy board meeting for November raised [...]