SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign currency deposits held by banks operating in South Korea rose in July from a month earlier as exporters increased their deposits of dollar-denominated earnings, central bank data showed Thursday. Outstanding foreign currency deposits held by local lenders, domestic and foreign, reached US$69.11 billion in July, up $5.5 billion [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Korea Bizwire) - Citibank will face disciplinary action after a leak of its “A+ Check Card” security data caused domestic card holders to suffer losses. The leak was traced to online payments service Paypal, which was hit by a BIN attack. Denoting the first six numbers of a check or credit card’s number, the [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean stocks ended lower Friday as foreign investors sold local stocks amid escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 39.76 points, or 1.69 percent, to 2,319.71. Foreign investors offloaded shares [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean analysts are divided over how much the local stock market will drop down the road following a recent downturn sparked by foreign selling and other negatives. Some fear the key price index may sink below the psychologically important 2,300-point level on foreign investors’ massive profit-taking, the so-called [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — K-Bank, South Korea’s first Internet-only bank, said Wednesday it has raised its deposit rate, in an apparent bid to fend off its competitor, Kakao Bank. K-Bank increased the rate it offers on a 1-year time deposit by 10 bps to 2.1 percent, compared with 2 percent offered by Kakao [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s real estate investors may move their money to the stock market following tough government measures to cool the overheating housing market, analysts said Friday. In a desperate bid to rein in soaring apartment prices, the government unveiled a package of measures Wednesday, including the designation of areas [...]
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. 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 [...]
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 [...]