SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of South Koreans in their 40s and 50s are turning to individual Treasury bonds as a preferred tool for retirement planning, according to new data from Mirae Asset Securities, the sole distributor of the instruments. Figures show that 39.3 percent of investors in such bonds over [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is facing intensifying “agflation,” as surging agricultural prices add new pressure to household costs and expose deep structural weaknesses in the nation’s farming and distribution systems. Consumer prices for agricultural, livestock and fisheries products jumped 4.8 percent in August from a year earlier, the sharpest increase in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s corporate bond market is showing renewed strength as expectations of interest rate cuts fuel demand for higher-yielding securities, driving credit spreads to their lowest levels of the year. According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association and Infomax, the spread between three-year AA- corporate bonds and equivalent [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — When a popular YouTube commentator recently began selling a “990 won salt bread,” it was more than a marketing stunt. It was a pointed jab at what Koreans have come to call “breadflation,” a steep rise in bread prices that many believe has made the staple disproportionately expensive at home compared [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s financial watchdog cautioned retail investors on Tuesday about the risks of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), even as the market for such products has expanded more than fourfold in recent years. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the nation’s ETF market reached 232 trillion won ($168 billion) in [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea will remove cryptocurrency trading and brokerage from its list of industries barred from receiving venture business status, signaling a shift in how the government views the digital asset sector. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Tuesday that the Cabinet approved revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s central bank has warned that failing to act decisively on climate change could leave the nation facing prolonged inflationary pressures as extreme heat and heavy rainfall increasingly disrupt prices. In a report released Monday, the Bank of Korea found that a one-degree Celsius “heat shock,” defined as the [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s central bank, in coordination with the government and the country’s largest lenders, is preparing to test the use of central bank digital currency (CBDC) for distributing public subsidies, a move officials say could curb misuse and improve accountability. According to financial industry sources, the six major banks [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), one of the world’s largest institutional investors, has been navigating a delicate balance between maximizing shareholder returns and advancing responsible investment in its recent voting at foreign corporate annual meetings. According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and its own [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Exchange said Friday it will introduce three new stock indexes tied to artificial intelligence on Sept. 8, underscoring how rapidly the technology is reshaping investment strategies across industries. The indexes — the KRX Sovereign AI Index, the KRX-Akros AI Power Infrastructure Index, and the KRX AI Semiconductor Index [...]