SEOUL, April 18 (Korea Bizwire) – Samsung Group slashed more than 10,000 jobs last year, the biggest cuts among South Korea’s top 30 conglomerates, according to data from CEO Score, a market research firm. While many of the job losses resulted from the sale of Samsung’s petrochemical and defense businesses, the nation’s largest company is [...]
SEOUL, April 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Investors have pumped in more cash in bond funds than stock funds so far this year as they seek more stable returns, a fund rating and consulting company said Friday. Domestic bond-focused funds have seen a cash inflow of 1.37 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) this year through April 12, KG Zeroin [...]
SEOUL, April 15 (Korea Bizwire) – Following Wednesday’s unexpected election results that saw the opposition Minjoo Party perform much better than expected, previous calls for quantitative easing from the Saenuri Party are increasingly unlikely to come to fruition. The quantitative easing measures were suggested by Kang Bong-gyun, who spearheaded the Saenuri’s Party election campaign, causing conflict between the [...]
SEOUL, April 12 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea and China on Monday agreed to extend their currency swap deal scheduled to expire next year in a bid to better cope with possible fallout stemming from mounting financial market uncertainties and widely expected U.S. rate hikes. South Korea’s Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho met with People’s Bank of [...]
SEOUL, April 6 (Korea Bizwire) – Korean prosecutors have launched an investigation into lawyers who have stepped into the real estate business. It seems like the second round has started in the battle between lawyers and realtors over a market worth two trillion won. The Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had assigned the ‘Trust [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – While financial services companies exploring fintech systems were previously concentrated on payment settlement, they are now setting out in new fields, expanding their offerings to financial software or data analysis services. According to “The Rise of Fintech and Changes in the Financial Industry”, a report issued by the Hyundai [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Multinational reinsurers are upping the ante to gain a bigger share in South Korea dominated by homegrown player Korean Re Co., industry people said Tuesday. Pacific Life Re Ltd., the reinsurance division of the U.S.-based Pacific Life group, joined other global peers such as Munich Re and Swiss Re by obtaining [...]
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Online quick-payment services are expanding into the offline market with the launch of physical plastic cards. Naver announced that it will launch the Naver Pay Check Card in collaboration with Shinhan Card, while Kakao launched the Kakao Shinhan Check Card, also in partnership with Shinhan Card. With the Naver Pay Check [...]
SEJONG, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has been included on the antitrust watch list as a large business group, with its mutual investments and loan guarantees to be restricted, the watchdog said Sunday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announces a newly updated list of large [...]
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) – Illegal loan sharks are lending money at sky-high interest rates of as much as 1,630 percent per year. According to data from the Consumer Loan Finance Association (CLFA), the total amount of money borrowed from loan sharks last year was 14.7 billion won, and the average length of a loan [...]