SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul shares ended higher Friday, led by gains in tech and shipbuilding stocks, although investors remained cautious about the impact of shifting U.S. tariffs on major companies’ earnings. The Korean won rose sharply against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 3.18 points, or [...]
SEOUL, May 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial industry is accelerating efforts to tokenize traditional assets such as stocks, deposits, and loans, positioning blockchain-backed digital certificates as a cornerstone of the sector’s next phase of innovation. According to a recent report by the Korea Institute of Finance, the global transaction volume of real-world asset [...]
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial regulator said Tuesday it plans to ease capital adequacy requirements for insurance companies to help lessen their burdens and raise the quality of their capital base. The Financial Services Commission said it will complete procedures needed to revise related laws on insurers’ capital adequacy ratio by [...]
SEOUL, April 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Daily foreign exchange (FX) trading by banks in South Korea reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2025 on increased demand from cross-border trading and the volatile won-dollar exchange rate, central bank data showed Friday. The daily FX turnover, including trading of derivatives, came to an average [...]
SEOUL, April 25, (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s leading non-life insurers are scaling back coverage for caregiver expense riders as soaring loss ratios threaten profitability. On April 24, 2025, industry officials confirmed that companies including Samsung Fire & Marine and Meritz Fire & Marine have reduced the daily coverage limit for caregiver expenses tied to [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top central banker has said global trade tensions sparked by the United States’ sweeping tariff policy are a major headwind for the country’s export-driven economy, and the issue will likely accelerate its efforts to diversify supply chains. Bank of Korea (BOK) Gov. Rhee Chang-yong made the assessment [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s domestic consumption has entered a prolonged downward trend, driven not by short-term disruptions like COVID-19 or inflation, but by deep-rooted structural issues such as demographic aging, employment patterns, and industrial shifts, according to a new report released on April 23, 2025, by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and [...]
SEOUL, April 23, (Korea Bizwire) — Nearly one-third of insurance policies in South Korea are canceled within two years, with long-term contract retention rates significantly trailing those of major global markets, according to a report released April 22, 2025, by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The report, titled “2024 Insurance Sales Channel Performance and Supervision [...]
SEJONG, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s national debt without available payment resources is projected to near 900 trillion won (US$634 billion) this year, the government said Sunday. The country’s national debt is expected to reach 885.4 trillion won in 2025, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Economy [...]
SEOUL, April 18, (Korea Bizwire) — Woori Bank has officially entered South Korea’s budget telecom market with the launch of its new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service, WooriWON Mobile, which began operations on April 18, 2025. To mark the launch, Woori Bank is offering promotional benefits worth up to 300,000 won for new customers [...]