Lone Star Funds is ineligible as Korea Exchange Bank's major shareholder since the U.S. private buyout fund's 2003 acquisition of the South Korean lender may be illegal, a lawmaker said Tuesday. The remarks come as Lone Star Funds is in talks with Hana Financial Group Inc., the country's No. 4 banking group, to settle the sale of its 51.02 percent stake in KEB for 4.69 trillion won ($4.3 billion...

Korean stocks ended 1.37 percent higher on Tuesday as institutional investors scooped up carmakers and financial shares, overshadowing concerns over the eurzone debt crisis, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 28.09 points to 2,076.83, the second straight session of gains. Trading volume was light at 207 million...

Korea posted a record current account surplus with China in 2010 as exports to the world’s fastest-growing economy hit an all-time high, the central bank said Tuesday. Korea’s current account surplus with China reached $52.8 billion last year, compared with a $37.9 billion surplus in 2009, according to the Bank of Korea. It marked the largest surplus since 1998 when the BOK began to compile rel...

Korea plans to beef up efforts to curb the growth of household debt and mend the practice of extending home loans in a bid to prevent household indebtedness from increasing market instability, the financial watchdog said Tuesday. Korea’s household debt stood at 801.4 trillion won ($738.2 billion) as of the end of March, accounting for 86 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. The numbe...

Korea is stepping up efforts to ferret out people and businesses engaged in offshore tax evasion schemes by directly investigating foreign financial accounts, the tax office said Monday. The National Tax Service said it will carry out the investigations in cooperation with tax authorities in foreign countries that have been cited for becoming tax havens for Korean nationals and companies. Indivi...

Korea needs to boost market competition further in order to fight high inflation, the biggest headache for the economy, the top economic policymaker said Monday. The remarks by Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan come as South Korea is struggling with high inflation. The country’s consumer prices surged 4.1 percent on-year in May, hovering above the 4 percent level for five months running and well abo...

Opposition party against revising law on financial holding firms The sale of state-run Woori Financial Group faces a significant showdown this week as to whether financial authorities can gain the momentum needed to push for the revision of laws on financial holding companies. The Financial Services Commission is considering proposing a revision to a bill allowing a financial group to own anoth...

Seat on rate-setting committee has been empty for over a year The presidential office has failed to address filling a vacant seat at the central bank’s interest rate-setting panel for 14 months despite the growing need to fight mounting inflationary pressure. In tandem, Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo has been criticized for allegedly glossing over laws on the BOK concerning the bank’s Mo...

Warren Buffett’s annual charity lunch auction raised a record $2.63 million on the final day of the weeklong contest after the bidder who’d already won offered more cash to set the mark. The revised winning bid for a steakhouse meal with the 80-year-old billionaire beat by $100 the record set last year by an unidentified donor. This year’s contest is the 12th benefiting San Francisco’s Glide c...