KB Savings Bank will launch a simplified authorizing service next month, allowing users to access smartphone banking services without certificate verification or other security media. The service will enable customers who have downloaded KB Savings Bank’s smartphone application to open new bank accounts and utilize financial services with their personal identification numbers only. It can be us...

South Korea’s manufacturing sentiment inched down in May from the previous month, the first decline in nine months, as producers were psychologically pressured from reduced business days with more holidays in May, the Bank of Korea said Wednesday. The business survey index in the manufacturing sector dropped to 82 in May from 81 in April. The index remained low at 71-72 from August to December b...

Confusion is growing over the implementation of a merit pay system at public organizations in the country, as President Moon Jae-in and his aides are pushing to repeal the measure introduced under previous administrations. During his campaign for the May 9 presidential election, Moon pledged to immediately abolish the performance-based wage system if he became president. Kim Jin-pyo, head of a ...

Investment by South Korean institutional investors into foreign bonds and stocks hit a record high at the end of March this year, official data showed Wednesday. The data suggested that appetite by South Korean insurers, brokerages and asset management firms for riskier assets in foreign countries improved amid record-low interest rates at home. The total holdings of foreign bonds and stocks by...

South Korea's exports to the group of Southeast Asian countries more than doubled over the last decade as commerce and investment increased following the implementation of a free trade deal, government data showed Wednesday. Outbound shipments to the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached US$74.52 billion in 2016, compared with $32.1 billion in 2006, according ...

South Korean shares traded higher late Wednesday morning as foreign and institutional buyers scooped up big cap stocks amid a massive selling spree by individuals. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 9.42 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,353.10 as of 11:20 a.m. The index opened lower on losses in market heavyweights, including market bellwether Samsung Electronics. However, the lo...

South Korean stocks started marginally lower Wednesday mainly on the back of losses in top-listed firms, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index inched down 3.55 points, or 0.15 percent, to trade at 2,340.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Top-cap Samsung Electronics edged down 0.09 percent, with chipmaker SK hynix sliding 1.22 percent. Medical and insurance shares, ...

Samsung Asset Management and Capital Group teamed up to launch Tuesday a set of retirement income funds, which they said are expected to “meet Korean retirement needs.” The RIFs mark the first pension funds in South Korea that allow retirees to withdraw money from the funds. The four types of pension schemes by the asset management arm under Korea’s largest conglomerate were based on the US fina...

South Korean stocks ended slightly lower Tuesday as foreign investors and institutions offloaded large-cap stocks in an apparent move to lock in profits. The Korean won fell against the US dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 9.29 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,343.68. Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at KB Securities Co., said institutions and foreign investors sold Sams...

While the number of women professionals increased significantly in the past seven years, their average wage compared to men remained low, a report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade showed. The KIET surveyed the number and structure of the female professional workforce aged 20-59 between 2008 and 2015. Out of all female workers, 26.6 percent were those with professional job...

The volume of non-performing loans have fallen to pre-global financial crisis levels following the completion of the government’s large-scale restructuring of Korea’s ailing shipbuilding and shipping industries, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday. The FSS announced that non-performing loans held by local banks reached 23.7 trillion won ($21.1 billion), or 1.38 percent, at ...

A significant surge by the nation’s major market index was entirely driven by Samsung Electronics, and without the tech giant’s contribution, the benchmark index could have fallen, a study showed Tuesday. According to the report by Korea Capital Market Institute, a private research center on the nation’s stock market, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index saw an increase of 211 points over a yea...

The financial regulator said Tuesday it will apply tighter rules for mortgage loans to all mutual savings institutions starting next month, in the latest step to control fast-growing household debt. The tighter rules, which already have been applied to retail banks and other depository institutions, require borrowers to repay both interest and a part of principal until maturity. A total of 1,92...

South Korea's financial regulator said Tuesday it will relax some capital rules and other technical standards for insurance firms to help them better cope with changes in global accounting rules. South Korea is one of more than 100 nations that will adopt the new global bookkeeping standard or the International Financial Reporting Standards 17, starting in January 2021. When adopted, some insur...

Bank lending rates on new household loans inched down in April and interest rates paid by banks on new deposits also fell, central bank data showed Tuesday. The average interest rates on fresh household loans extended by local banks came to 3.41 percent in April, down 0.02 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The BOK data came amid South Korea's efforts to t...