US biotech firm Moderna is slated to provide 40 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as early as March, according to news reports Friday. The move came after the Korean government on Thursday inked a deal with the company to purchase vaccine doses for 20 million or more people. "Under the terms of the proposed agreement, deliveries would begin in May 2021,” the company said in a statement. "COVID-19 vaccine is not currently approved for use in South Korea, and the co

The ratio of the total market capitalization of listed firms on the benchmark Kospi to the nation’s gross domestic product hit an all-time high last year amid a retail stock fad, according to the Korea Exchange on Friday.  The Kospi market cap amounted to 1,980.5 trillion won ($1.82 trillion) as of Wednesday, the last trading day of 2020, hitting 104.2 percent of the year’s estimated nominal GDP of 1,900 trillion won, it said. The size of the stock market compared to the rea

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Wednesday it will clear regulatory hurdles in the new year to foster convergence between finance and new technologies. According to the Financial Services Commission’s key policy tasks for the financial sector in 2021, the authority will revise its financial regulatory system in July next year to allow local banks to operate nonfinancial services like food delivery via their mobile applications.  “Discussions and research are un

A plan to sell some of the government’s stake in Woori Financial Group this year foundered due to the high market volatility triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial regulator said Wednesday. Earlier this year, a sub-committee of the Financial Service Commission, which controls the sale of state-owned firms and shares, said it would start selling off Korea Deposit Insurance Corp.’s stake in the bank in the first half of 2020.  The plan was to sell the entire stake in

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives said Tuesday it has launched Saemaul Geumgo, a community based financial institution supervised by the KFCC, in a rural village in Laos.  In partnership with the Lao government, the KFCC has helped residents of Km52 village located in Phonhong district of the captial city Vientiane establish Saemaul Geumgo in the region by offering management support of its financial systems as well as business models. Officials from the Lao governmen

Shinhan Bank will accept passports when verifying the personal identification of its mobile customers, as part of its efforts to expand access to the bank’s contactless services to foreign and younger customers, officials said Tuesday. Customers had been required to present ID cards or driver’s licenses to access financial services, including opening a bank account or subscribing to savings products. With passports added to the list, younger customers and foreign customers will als

Asian stocks and credit bonds are forecast to remain bullish next year amid a recovering global economy due to the COVID-19 vaccine progress, according to a Standard Chartered Bank Korea report Monday.  “Global economic activity, which has been halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, will normalize next year thanks to the vaccine distribution,” the bank‘s report said in regards to 2021 financial market prospects.  “As the global economy is expected to rebound, risky

The chief of South Korea’s financial market watchdog said Wednesday he feels sorry for causing public concern over the massive fiasco surrounding Lime Asset Management, which the regulator‘s employee was embroiled in. “As the head of FSS, I feel heavy responsibility for the issue and apologize for our employee’s involvement in the scandal. We will take the recent fiasco as an opportunity to enhance internal control over irregularities through measures to improve employ

  South Korea's central bank on Thursday raised alert about escalating risks to the financial system, pointing out household and corporate loans that have continued to surge in the wake of a protracted economic slump. As of end-September, outstanding loans of local households rose 7 percent on-year to 1,682.1 trillion won ($1.52 trillion). Their debt burden sharply increased with the households’ debt to disposable income ratio reaching 171.3 percent, up 10.7 percentage points from th

NongHyup Financial Group has nominated Son Byung-hwan, CEO of its banking unit as the sole candidate for group chairman, officials said Tuesday. If the nomination is approved at a shareholders’ meeting slated for the end of month, Son is set to take the top post, which has been left vacant since late last month. Former Chairman Kim Kwang-soo resigned to serve as the new chief of the Korea Federation of Banks. Son was nominated for his expertise in digital finance as well as his leadershi

JB Financial Group’s commercial banking units -- Jeonbuk Bank and Kwangju Bank -- are strengthening their capacity to integrate robotic process automation technologies within banking services, the group said Monday. RPA uses artificial intelligence and machine learning software to automate repetitive business processes. Jeonbuk Bank has recently extended the use of RPA, from the bank’s headquarters to local branches, in a step to reduce employees working hours and provide better se

The market watchdog Financial Supervisory Service said Wednesday the novel coronavirus outbreak has been posing a negative impact to the country’s real estate funds that invest in overseas properties.  A real estate fund is an investment vehicle designed to pool money from both individual and institutional investors to trade in properties. To profit, the funds usually either purchase commercial real estate for lease or provide loans to companies working on infrastructure and industri

One out of every 5 couples in South Korea who got married in 2015 had no children last year, government data showed Tuesday.  According to Statistics Korea, about 18 percent of the 216,008 couples who tied the knot in 2015 and remained married as of 2019 were still childless, marking the highest figure since 2015. The percentage of childless couples married for five years has been on an upward trend, having increased from 12.9 percent in 2015 to 16.9 percent in 2018. The trend appears to

South Korea’s top financial regulator said Monday it is premature to discuss plans on opening individual investors‘ access to short-selling activities of Korean shares, stressing the danger of small investors taking potentially massive risks. “Considering potential financial damage from short-selling, I personally hope ordinary retail investors don’t participate in it,” said the FSC Chairman Eun Sung-soo during a press conference held online due to the COVID-19 r

Major South Korean lender Woori Bank said Monday it is set to launch a mobile-based notification service on Tuesday to replace its current postal delivery of documents regarding customer banking activities. After completing a personal identification process in the bank’s mobile application, its users will receive e-notifications of 21 pieces of banking information on deposits or loans, including repayment due dates, which previously have been mailed to their home address.  Marking

Woori Financial Group said Friday its Chairman Sohn Tae-seung recently bought back 5,000 company shares to show his confidence in the banking group’s future growth. Sohn’s stock buyback marks the fifth time this year, following his earlier buying in January, March, April and August. He now holds 88,127 shares in Woori Financial.  “By purchasing the firm’s shares in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, he aimed to build market confidence in the group’s corporate f

South Korea’s financial behemoth Shinhan Financial Group is slated to gain full ownership of its newly-acquired subsidiary Neoplux -- a former venture capital arm under Doosan Group -- as soon as the two sides complete a small-scale stock exchange at the end of this month, a filing showed Wednesday.  According to DART, the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure board, the banking giant will carry out the small-scale stock exchange with Neoplux on Dec. 30. Starti

An exchange-traded fund operated by the Vietnam branch of South Korea‘s leading asset management firm Mirae Asset Global made a market debut in the Southeast Asian country‘s stock market, the company said Wednesday. The so-called Mirae Asset VN30 Exchange Traded Fund is designed to invest in 30 blue-chip Vietnamese companies, including Vingroup Joint Stock Company, Vietcombank and Vinamilk. Its shares account 76 percent of the total market capitalization of the nation’s public

South Korea’s major banks have been asking employees to accept early retirement to cut costs amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Wednesday.  More than 1,700 employees at the nation’s five major commercial banks here -- Woori, Hana, Shinhan, KB Kookmin, NH NongHyup -- were offered early retirement between the end of December last year and early this year, industry data showed. To cope with financial setbacks stemming from the pandemic, local banks ar

As South Korea’s largest agricultural bank, NH NongHyup has played a key role in supporting local communities that have been hit hard by the prolonged coronavirus crisis with a series of vibrant social contribution activities throughout the year. So far, the key affiliate of NH NongHyup Financial Group spent more than 1 trillion won ($903 million) on its social contribution activities and programs, the largest amount among major lenders here. The lender has put more money than any othe