KB Financial Group vowed on Friday to broaden the scope of its technology-based services to lead the country’s financial technology industry. 　It said in a press release that “KB Starters Valley,” a project to foster promising fintech start-ups launched in March, is now on track, attracting wide attention from the financial and fintech industry scene. 　The project is aimed at providing a total fostering solution for selective fintech start-ups, such as offering office space, investment relations

Woori Bank celebrated the opening of 200th overseas branch on Thursday, widening the scope of Korean financial industries on the foreign soil. 　“The opening of 200th global branch is the fruit of Woori’s successful adaptation to financial environments of different countries,” Woori Bank president Lee Kwang-goo said at a launching ceremony in Seoul for the new branch in Myanmar.　The ceremony was attended by Financial Services Commission chairman Yim Jong-yong, Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. presid

(123RF)South Korean household credit, or credit purchases and loans extended by financial institutions, reached an all-time high of 1,166.4 trillion won ($1.01 trillion) as of September, fueling concerns the country’s household indebtedness is outpacing the economy. 　According to the Bank of Korea’s latest quarterly report released Tuesday, household credit in the July-September period grew 3.0 percent, the same as in the previous quarter, when the growth rate hit its highest in 4 1/2 years.　Hou

Amid rising applications for parental leave, the South Korean government will hire more substitute workers to fill in for civil servants on parental leave, the Finance Ministry said Monday. 　Starting next year, the government will raise the substitution rate of those on parental leave to 80 percent from the current 60 percent, the Finance Ministry said in a press release. This will create 1,000 new jobs, the ministry said. 　The number of employees of government institutions taking parental leave

The number of international marriages of a Korean and foreign spouse is on a steady decrease, along with falling divorce and childbirth rates among multicultural families, the state-run statistics agency said Thursday.　According to a multicultural family report compiled by Statistics Korea, the number of international marriages stood at 24,387 in 2014, the lowest since 2003. It fell 9.5 percent from a year earlier, showing a steady annual decline since 2008. 　The steady decline has been attribut

(Woori Bank)Woori Bank said Thursday it has launched the country’s first smartwatch money transfer service for Android-based smartwatches. 　Dubbed the “Woori Watch-banking Simple Money Transfer Service,” the smartwatch banking service runs on the “WiBee Mobile Pay” program, developed independently by the South Korean lender in May. 　The service does not require a digital authorized certificate or security code card, as smartphone banking services do. By simply typing in their pin number, bank cu

(123RF)South Korean financial authorities are pushing to reduce the “excessive” insurance payments to owners of high-end cars involved in an accident, officials said Wednesday.　For this, the Financial Services Commission plans to change relevant regulations on the insurance-covered repairing and compensation of damaged vehicles.　“The rising number of luxury cars, especially the foreign-brand vehicles, has triggered a number of unfair practices in car insurance coverage,” said FSC director Lee Do

(123RF)Financial authorities have decided to give a three-year grace period to the nation‘s first Internet-only banks to meet financial soundness requirements in a move to nurture the new financial industry. 　The Financial Services Commission said Tuesday that the Internet-only banks will face lower financial soundness requirements compared to their brick-and-mortar peers. 　The grace period, which will end in 2019, aims at giving the new banks time to lodge themselves in the financial market tha

COMBAT FEMALE CANCER -- AIA Life Korea CEO Daniel L. Costello (fifth from left) poses with Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women chief Paik Nam-sun (sixth from left), officials and a female patient after delivering a 180 million won ($154,000) donation fund for female cancer patients. (AIA Life Korea)

(123RF)In an effort to boost the competitiveness of domestic banks, financial authorities have decided to introduce a performance-based evaluation and to gradually discontinue the conventional salary class system, starting with state-run banks within the year.　Labor unions, however, are arguing that the performance-related pay is incompatible with the banking industry.　The Financial Services Commission said Monday that it will announce within the year a set of plans to expand the performance-bas

(123RF)The number of subscribers for South Korean mobile banking services reached 60 million in the third quarter, central bank data revealed on Monday.　According to the Bank of Korea’s July-September quarterly report on online banking, the number of smartphone banking subscriptions for 16 commercial banks operating here and the Korea Post reached a combined 60.08 million as of end-September, up 4.4 percent over the previous quarter. 　As of end-September, 62.3 percent of all 115.3 million Intern

The Supreme Court ruled against Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation in a liquidation case against U.S. buyout fund Lone Star, marking a shift in the court’s attitude toward the lawsuit, worth around $35 million. 　South Korea’s top court on Sunday quashed the second appeal ruling on the liquidation of LSF-KDIC, an investment firm jointly established by Lone Star and KDIC’s subsidiary Korea Resolution & Collection Corporation, and returned the case to the high court. 　The top court said that the h

Korea Development Bank chairman Hong Ky-ttak attends the state-run policy bank’s seasonal Business Leaders Forum in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday. (Korea Development Bank)Korea Development Bank chairman Hong Ky-ttak pledged stronger support for small and medium-sized enterprises, asking them to reinforce global innovation in entrepreneurship as a breakthrough from the low-growth tide. 　“With the Korean economy facing challenges with low growth, stronger support for the promising SMEs is more compelling

Korea’s main bourse operator announced Thursday it will release a new index for measuring a listed company’s environmental, social and governance performance later this month.　The Environmental, Social and Governance index, or ESG, is one of the United Nations’ principles of responsible investment, which encourages investors to look into corporate responsibility factors in making investment decisions. 　For the ESG index to gain investors’ support, the Korea Exchange said the market needs an enha

TOKYO – The Japanese government’s debt is expected to reach just over 1,167 trillion yen ($9.469 trillion) in the 2015 fiscal year, according to data released by Japan’s finance ministry on Tuesday.This translates to about 8.3 million yen per Japanese citizen. The ministry said overall public debt is likely to reach the projected amount despite a reduction of almost 3 trillion yen during the June to September period. The 2015 fiscal year in Japan lasts from April 1 this year to March 31, 2016.Th

Pope Francis is insisting that the Catholic Church shun all temptations of power, prestige and money as he presses his reform agenda amid new scandal in the Vatican.Francis outlined his vision of the church on Tuesday in a lengthy speech to Italian bishops gathered in Florence. He told them he wanted a church that was humble and poor, not obsessed with doctrine or acquiring power.He said: "May God protect the Italian church from every substitute of power, image and money."He said Christians shou

Afghanistan's spy agency says it has freed eight people who were among a large group of ethnic minority Hazaras kidnapped earlier this year.The National Directorate of Security said in a statement that five men, two women and a teenager were freed in Ghazni province on Tuesday.It was not clear if they were among 31 Hazaras abducted from a bus in Ghazni in March, all of whom were believed to be men.Senior government officials have said that the Islamic State group was behind the abductions. The N

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday cheered for those who are set to take crucial college entrance exams later this week."You are the pillars of the Republic of Korea who will lead the era of unification," Park said in a message posted on her Facebook page, referring to South Korea's official name.Park also voiced hope that "your dreams and hopes will be realized."The brief message came two days before more than 630,000 college aspirants take the one-day college entrance exams across the country.

The United States on Monday welcomed Myanmar's election as a victory for the people, and the vote appeared to raise prospects of a further lifting of U.S. sanctions - provided the military accepts the results.While highlighting encouraging signs from Sunday's poll, Washington remained cautious and said it would watch for the democratic process to move forward before lifting more sanctions, which still target more than 100 individuals and businesses and limit U.S. investment in Myanmar.The ruling

(123RF)Banks posted a record-low combined net interest margin in the latest quarterly report largely due to the continued low key interest rate, the Financial Supervisory Service revealed Tuesday. 　In the July-September period, the 17 lenders operating in Korea reaped a record-low 1.56 percent in combined net interest margin, a gauge for profitability, from 1.58 percent in the previous quarter. 　During the same period, interest income fell for the fourth consecutive quarter to 8.4 trillion won (