SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean internet-only banks said Tuesday their third-quarter profits sharply increased on robust growth in customers and deposits. K-Bank, controlled by a consortium of telecom giant KT Corp., Woori Bank and 19 other companies, saw its third-quarter earnings more than double from three months earlier. Net profit came to [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign direct investment (FDI) pledged to the country has surged more than 5,000 times in 60 years, which helped play a key pillar of now Asia’s fourth-largest economy, the industry ministry said Tuesday. In 1962, a local carmaker reported receiving US$3 million in foreign investment, the first of its [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul shares may fall further to 2,900 next week depending on upcoming global economic indicators and the Federal Reserve chairman’s possible comments on tighter monetary policy, analysts said Saturday. The Benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell for a third straight day to end 1.3 percent lower at [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — The value of derivatives-tied securities issued in South Korea plumbed a near eight-year low in the first half of the year amid the bullish run of major global stock markets, data showed Tuesday. The amount of equity-linked securities (ELS) and derivatives-linked securities (DLS) outstanding came to 80.2 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — Citibank Korea Inc., the Korean unit of U.S. banking giant Citigroup, said Monday that it will close its retail banking services “in phases” in line with a global business reorganization drive. Citibank Korea held a board meeting on Friday and made the decision to pull out from consumer banking [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean stocks are likely to move in a tight box next week as investors weigh the potential impacts of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s tapering and hopes of strong corporate earnings, analysts said Saturday. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 3,006.16 points Friday, down 0.3 [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean lender KB Kookmin Bank said Wednesday it has acquired an additional 30 percent stake in its Cambodian microfinance unit. The stake purchase came after KB Kookmin took over a 70 percent stake in Prasac Microfinance Institution Ltd. in Cambodia for US$603 million in April 2020. With [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of overseas stock accounts held by South Korean retail investors jumped 74 percent in the first half of the year from six months earlier amid their brisk investment in foreign shares, data showed Wednesday. Local individual investors held about 3.31 million overseas stock accounts as of end-June, [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean brokerage houses have sharply lowered their third-quarter earnings outlook for major listed firms amid rising inflation and other negatives, a market tracker said Wednesday. The combined net profit forecast for 168 major listed firms came to 29.7 trillion won (US$25.2 billion) for the July-September period as of [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co., a major builder in South Korea, is taking initiative to improve the residential environment of the Vietnamese living in the country. The company announced that it had entered into a four-party business agreement with the Vietnamese Embassy in Seoul, Habitat for Humanity Korea and [...]