Student loans from high-interest lenders almost halved over the past year on the back of government efforts to encourage students to borrow from less expensive lenders, the state regulator said on FridayThe Financial Supervisory Service said, as of June, total student loans fell to 34.2 billion won ($30.3 million), down 47.5 percent, from a year ago. The FSS data showed that a college student on average borrows about 2.1 million won a year. But the delinquency rate slightly increased to 16.9 per

Tax officials undertaxed taxpayers to the tune of 1.85 trillion won ($1.64 billion) over the past five years, according to a tax authority report.In the report submitted by the National Tax Service to Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday, the public was revealed to have been overtaxed by 353.8 billion won in the same period. Amid growing criticism, the NTS noted that it had punished or issued warnings to about 17,000 officials involved in tax miscalculation.Howev

A government plan to merge a state-controlled bank and financial corporation is expected to reduce state lending capacity, backfiring on cash-short small and medium enterprises, experts said on Wednesday.The move came as state authorities are set to integrate the Korea Development Bank and the Korea Financial Corp. in the course of reorganizing state-controlled brokerages. The KDB and the KoFC were established in 1954 and 2009, respectively, largely to boost the national economy by providing cre

Hanwha Life Insurance Co. is celebrating the rise in popularity of its new lifelong insurance that is selling at record speed.Launched in April, Hanwha sold about 25,000 “Mom to Mom Child Insurance” plans in the first two months, which is an unusually high sales record for child insurance here. “Typical child insurance expires before kids reach 30, and they must extend the contract or get new health insurance as adults,” a Hanwha Life Insurance official said.“But it can be difficult for people w

The National Pension Service bought a large sum of shares related to automobile and financial companies in the first half of this year, officials said Monday. The Financial Supervisory Service posted on its official website that NPS’ share in Hyundai Motor Group, the country’s No. 1 automaker, rose 1.04 percentage point to 6.99 percent. Financial research and consulting firm FnGuide noted a conspicuous increase in the state pension service’s stock purchase in transportation equipment and auto pa

Woori Financial Group chairman Lee Soon-woo urged its executives and employees’ full support for the group’s privatization plan.Chairman Lee made the plea during a strategic conference in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday, attended by about 2,500 employees of Woori Financial Group and its subsidiary firms including Woori Bank.The chairman called for a “successful privatization” of the group through fair market competition, group officials said.The nation’s largest financial holding company w

State authorities are pushing to give three more years to the government’s stimulus policies for corporate restructuring, financial sources said on Sunday.The existing corporate restructuring stimulus policy, scheduled to be in effect until Dec. 31, 2013, will be extended to the same day of 2016 if the policy proposal is able to gain lawmakers’ approval. The restructuring stimulus act in question, which allows indebted firms to continue business operations over the course of clearing debt, is co

Pernod Ricard SA’s single malt whisky “The Glenlivet” won 12 gold prizes in two globally recognized international whisky competitions, the company said on Thursday. The Glenlivet won seven gold medals in the International Spirits Challenge, or ISC, with its 12-year, 15-year, 18-year, 21-year and 25-year whiskies as well as with the Glenlivet Master Distiller’s Reserve and the Glenlivet Nadurra. The company takes special pride in its 18-year Glenlivet, the winner of this year’s Best In Class Awar

Kim Sun-yong, the second son of former Daewoo Group chairman Kim Woo-choong, was found to have purchased a country club in Vietnam through a paper company he established in an overseas tax haven, a group of journalists claimed on Thursday.The Korea Center for Investigative Journalism, locally known as Newstapa, said that the junior Kim holds a 100 percent share for the luxury Vietnamese golf course called “Van Tri Golf Club.” Former chairman Kim is known to play golf there, Newstapa added. Newst

As the nation’s sluggish economy continues to squeeze households KB Financial Group and its subsidiaries are aiming to promote good household saving. They suggest three KB family savings plans: “KB Wife Sarang Installment Savings,” “KB Golden Life Savings” and “Figure Queen Yuna Sarang Installment Savings II.”“These products are designed to encourage and hold together family members, the bedrock of all economies,” a KB Financial Group spokesperson said.  Of the saving plans, “KB Wife Sarang Inst

The banking industry is expected to see a continued decrease in net profits in the second quarter, dashing hopes for a recovery in its earnings, a financial report said Monday.Researchers said that low interest rates would likely continue for the meantime, ultimately yielding less profit. Large firms’ underperformance, represented by STX Group and Ssangyong E&C, also accounted for the banks’ earning shock in the second quarter, they said.Financial companies, too, have admitted that the second qu

The nation’s main bourse on Thursday issued a warning to Hanyang Securities for engaging in irregular trading of financial derivatives products.The brokerage unit of Hanyang University sought to hamper other investors’ profits through the trading of KOSPI200 option products by issuing an excessive amount of “sell” orders at a certain price, according to the Korea Exchange.Exchange officials said the biggest victims in the aftermath of the firms’ practice were small investors. As Hanyang took a l

The state-run Korea Development Bank announced on Wednesday the opening of its first local branch in Moscow, Russia. Launched on Tuesday, local time, the Moscow branch is expected to serve as a start-off point to the bank’s inroads to the country and its neighboring states, bank officials said. Russia became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2012.“Russia has shown great growth potential in financial industries as its WTO membership brought greater opportunities for foreign investors, i

The nation’s financial watchdog launched a probe into suspected illegal foreign exchange dealings by owners of paper companies established in overseas tax havens, officials said Tuesday.The Financial Supervisory Service said that the investigation was targeting 184 people who were disclosed by a news organization as holders of paper companies in tax havens abroad such as Virgin Islands. The investigation is the largest in scale of the financial watchdog’s probe into the alleged foreign exchange

Tobacco maker KT&G announced Monday that it will launch the country’s first low-ignition propensity cigarette, or LIPs.The LIPs will more likely naturally self-extinguish when left lit and unattended, said KT&G, the country’s largest cigarette maker by local market share.The company independently developed a “blue band,” a coat of special chemicals on the paper wrap, and will apply it to three of its brands in The One series starting July 23, gradually expanding to the rest of the products.The t

The country’s 10 largest conglomerates on average spared less in social donations despite raking in a larger net profit last year, Chaebul.com reported on Sunday. A total of seven conglomerates donated more funds for social contribution, but the remaining three gave considerably less, dragging down the average, said the portal devoted to information on top conglomerates here. The seven groups that gave more are Samsung, Hyundai Motor, LG, Lotte, POSCO, Hanjin and Hanwha. Samsung Group made the m

Tracking the history of Korea Exchange Bank is much like scavenging through Korea’s modern economic history following the 1950-1953 Korean War. Established in 1967, KEB has contributed to the nation’s banking industry as one of the oldest banks. The bank, well known for its specialized foreign exchange marketing and corporate banking, started its second takeoff in 2012 after it was acquired by Hana Financial Group to become a sister bank of Hana Bank. Entering the 1960s, the Korean government wa

Credit card firms are facing pressure to scrap the ongoing negotiations over card transaction fees due to resistance from large retailers.The Financial Supervisory Service noted Wednesday that major credit card issuers including Shinhan, Samsung, KB Kookmin, Hyundai and Lotte are far from settling the seven-month-long service fee levels for the conglomerate sector.In December 2012, the FSS instructed the card industry to ease the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises by cutting their tran

Credit card companies have decided to cease offering insurance payments for death as a result of an aviation accident, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.Regulatory officials at the FSS said major issuers would scrap the insurance, which has been sold in coordination with insurance firms, from September. Among the firms are Shinhan Card, Hyundai Card, Samsung Card, KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and Hana SK Card. About 10 million consumers currently signed up for credit cards

The nation’s financial regulator plans to widen its investigation into the incomes of bank executives to heads of insurance and securities companies.The Financial Supervisory Service said Monday that it would launch an investigation into the annual paychecks of every single executive of insurance firm and brokerage. The investigation will take place before the turn of the year, the regulator said. The move came about two weeks after the FSS officially confirmed its decision to screen the annual