SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly 90 percent of financial firms worldwide said their businesses are at risk from rapidly expanding fintech rivals and they fear losing revenue to the financial innovators, according to a new study released on Monday, in the latest sign of the growing influence of financial technology, known as fintech. [...]
SEOUL, April 27 (Korea Bizwire) – K-Bank, South Korea’s first Internet-only bank, has achieved more than half of its full-year target of attracting deposits just 24 days after launching operations, the nation’s financial regulator said Thursday. The pace of growth in K-Bank’s deposits is much faster than expected and the Internet-only bank is fueling increased [...]
SEOUL, April 21 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s credit card companies are seeking to apply the iris scanner adopted by Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S8 smartphones on mobile transactions, industry sources said Friday, lauding the feature’s security compared with fingerprints and passwords. According to the sources, Samsung Card Co. is seeking to apply the iris [...]
SEOUL, April 19 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea plans to launch a pilot project for a coinless society this week, South Korea’s central bank said Wednesday, a move that could enhance convenience for ordinary people. Under the project set to begin Thursday, consumers can deposit small change left from purchases of goods into their prepaid [...]
SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Tuesday signed KEB Hana Bank as their main banking partner. The two sides recently wrapped up their negotiations that began in February and announced their deal in a ceremony at KEB Hana Bank’s headquarters in central Seoul. The bank will reportedly [...]
SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Citibank Korea, the South Korean unit of Citigroup Inc., said Thursday it will offer financial services via online channels while closing about 80 percent of its physical branches in South Korea. Citibank, which recently announced a plan to reduce the number of physical branches to 32 from 133 in the country, has said it won’t slash staff, despite ongoing restructuring measures. Instead, about 800 workers at the branches facing closure will be relocated to either [...]
SEOUL, April 13 (Korea Bizwire) – Last year, South Korea’s banking industry saw its employee count drop by 2,248 to 114,775, and 175 bank branches closed down – the biggest drop ever – with the number of ATMs falling to 48,474 from 51,115. The trends are reflective of the inevitable prevalence of internet banking. Bank [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – Obtaining discounts on health insurance premiums will become much easier for South Koreans starting in July. Discounted contracts, which provide up to 20 percent discounts on existing installments, are offered by 14 insurance companies for healthy individuals who meet certain health standards. However, only 3.8 percent of the subscribers [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s household loans extended by local banks rose 10 percent in March from a year earlier due to increased mortgages, central bank data showed Wednesday. Outstanding household loans from local lenders came to 713.9 trillion won (US$621 billion) as of end-March, compared with 649 trillion won from a [...]
SEOUL, April 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Seven major credit card companies are being accused of exploiting their customers after reports emerged showing they profited handsomely from high-interest loans despite prevailing low interest rates. Low interest rates in South Korea are seeing credit card companies enjoy some of the biggest profit spikes in recent years, with some [...]