SEOUL, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Loans extended by South Korean banks to companies using their high-level technologies as collateral have soared 70-fold in the past seven months on a strong drive by the government, industry data showed Wednesday, spawning concerns that a huge chunk of such loans could turn sour, thus undermining lenders’ financial [...]
SEOUL, March 11 (Korea Bizwire) – Household loan growth at South Korean banks more than doubled in February from a month earlier on robust property transactions and solid demand for loans amid low interest rates, central bank data showed Wednesday. Household loans, which include mortgage lending, extended by local lenders reached 566 trillion won (US$503 [...]
SEJONG, Mar. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The South Korean government allocated fewer funds to purchase oil products, missing out on the opportunity to stock up on emergency energy reserves at the lowest costs in decades, records showed Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the government plans to purchase 219,000 barrels of [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Local private equity funds (PEFs) saw their combined assets under management soar more than 100-fold in the past 10 years as they have successfully attracted investors seeking higher investment returns, the financial watchdog said Tuesday. A total of 51.2 trillion won (US$45.9 billion) in assets were under management by [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea, one of the world’s most tech-advanced countries, trumped its rivals in wafer capacity last year, market data showed Tuesday, reflecting its solid footing in the semiconductor business. The monthly share of Asia’s fourth-largest economy in terms of wafer capacity stood at 21.1 percent at the end of [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean institutions’ investments in foreign securities grew at the fastest pace since 2007 last year on a rise in massive buying of foreign bonds and so-called Korean paper, central bank data showed Friday. The outstanding value of foreign securities held by institutional investors jumped by US$20.9 billion in [...]
SEJONG, Mar. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s consumer prices grew less than 1 percent for the third month in a row in February, with the pace of growth the slowest since mid-1999, a government report showed Tuesday. The country’s consumer price index edged up 0.5 percent last month from a year earlier, down from [...]
SEOUL, Mar. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign investors turned net buyers of Korean stocks in February, snapping a two-month selling streak on the back of easing uncertainties in Greece and the U.S. central bank’s flexible stance on an interest rate hike, the Seoul bourse operator said Monday. Offshore traders bought a net 1.32 trillion won [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Motor Co.’s Accent topped the subcompact car market in China in terms of sales last month, reflecting its growing appeal among local customers keen on quality and affordability, industry data showed Friday. Hyundai Motor sold a total of 26,515 units of the Accent last month in China in [...]
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — Many Korean employees consider themselves as indispensable assets of their companies. According to job search company Byeoruk Sijang’s survey conducted on 1,124 employees, 76.4 percent of the respondents answered that they are irreplaceable individuals at their companies. The respondents also gave scores for their accomplishments at work. On a 100 point [...]