SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of South Koreans applying for debt settlement last year reached an eight-year high. According to a new report from the Credit & Recovery Counseling Service on Friday, the number of South Korean debt holders who negotiated a debt settlement amounted to 103,277 last year, up 7.2 percent from [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) – The Bank of Korea (BOK) on Thursday raised its economic growth forecast for this year on expectations of continued domestic demand recovery and robust export growth. The central bank forecast that South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 3 percent in 2018, faster than its previous estimate of [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – The labor policies pursued by the South Korean government will drive up labor costs for local companies and drive down their sales, a German consulting firm said Wednesday. In a presentation on Korea’s labor policies and their impact on businesses, Lee Soo-sung, managing partner at Roland Berger Seoul, estimated [...]
SEJONG, Jan. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The government will launch a 2.6 trillion-won (US$2.45 billion) investment fund for startups this year, the first portion of a proposed 10 trillion-won investment fund that is to be created by 2020, the finance ministry said Wednesday. Earlier, the government said it will allocate 30 trillion won over the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite South Korea’s seven-figure userbase for cryptocurrency apps, a relatively small surge in domestic users of Hong Kong service Binance in the past week has industry watchers wondering whether local investors, increasingly hemmed in by government regulations, will begin an exodus towards foreign exchanges. According to app research firm [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreigners have net bought more than 2.2 trillion won (US$2 billion) worth of South Korean stocks this year in continuation of their buying spree from 2017, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said Tuesday, amid strong performance by local firms. Offshore investors acquired listed shares valued at 10.2 trillion won last [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Shinhan Bank, one of South Korea’s largest lenders, will serve as the title sponsor for the nation’s top professional baseball league over the next three seasons. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced its three-year partnership with Shinhan on Monday. The amount of the sponsorship fee and the new league emblem will be unveiled at a signing ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday. Shinhan Bank also owns a [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign investors picked up financial and chemicals shares on the KOSPI, South Korea’s main bourse, last year while selling off electronics and construction stocks, data from the Korea Exchange showed Monday. Offshore investors bought 6.58 trillion won (US$6.17 billion) worth of local stocks in 2017, of which financial stocks [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s justice ministry is drawing up legislation aimed to curb overheating in the virtual currency market, including a complete shutdown of all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country, its minister said Thursday. “The ministry is preparing legislation that basically bans any transactions based on a virtual currency through the [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – In what could be the first domino to fall in a sweeping investigation into all things cryptocurrency, Coinone, one of the top three exchanges in the country, is currently the subject of a police investigation. With fellow exchange Bithumb also falling under the crosshairs of the National Tax Service, [...]