SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea has decided to reset its push to become a regional financial hub, reflecting a change in related global circumstances, authorities announced Thursday. Despite the government’s initiative that started in 2008, foreign financial firms have withdrawn or scaled down their businesses in Asia’s fourth-biggest economy. In a relevant [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) – The number of cash dispensers (CD) and automated teller machines (ATM) fell for a second straight year in 2015 on growing demand for Internet and mobile banking services, South Korea’s central bank said Thursday. The Bank of Korea said the number of CDs and ATMs across the country came [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – Possible trade friction between the United States and China could deal a blow to South Korea’s exports, a report said Wednesday. There are concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s looming protectionist policies could spark trade friction between the world’s two biggest economies. Trump has said he would instruct his [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – With a parliamentary vote to impeach President Park Geun-hye two days away, the glare of investor attention is focused on its outcome with a rejection more likely to increase stock market volatility than a passage, analysts said Wednesday. Opposition parties and some ruling party lawmakers are slated to put [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 7 (Korea Bizwire) – The turnaround in South Korea’s exports is expected to continue at a steady pace next year, helped by moderate growth in the world economy, according to forecasts by foreign investment banks on Wednesday. Solid growth in emerging markets and a sustained rise in commodity prices are likely to increase [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea’s Shinhan Bank said its Indonesian unit, Bank Shinhan Indonesia (BSI), has completed a merger with another Indonesian bank in the latest move to seek a new growth engine in the world’s fourth most populous country. BSI won an approval from the Indonesian financial authorities for its plan [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 5 (Korea Bizwire) – The ongoing political crisis surrounding the embattled South Korean president is incapacitating government offices and businesses that are facing allegations of involvement in the scandal, with officials now struggling to establish economic policies and business strategies for 2017, which is only a month away. The Ministry of Strategy and [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) – The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions this week on North Korea, putting a stricter cap on the country’s exports of coal as well as copper, nickel, silver, and zinc. Interestingly, the sanctions also include exports of statues, apparently one of the key sources of income for North Korea, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – The Bank of Korea announced Thursday a pilot project to allow convenience store customers to charge their prepaid public transportation cards using spare change, the first step forward to a “coinless society.” According to representatives, the BOK will begin a selection process of convenience store franchises that will take [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea hosted another event Thursday to demonstrate its financial technology, albeit still in the nascent stage, as the government views it as the key to the future of the nation’s financial sector. Seven “promising” fintech startups here participated in the Demo Day event, the 13th of its kind, [...]