Korea has a number of factors to mitigate the current won-yen exchange rates that daunt Korean exporters, said Tai Hui, chief Asia market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.Mounting concerns over the weakening yen have led to a cautious outlook by Korean companies. However, Hui concluded that the global economic conditions are looking favorable for the Korean economy, as well as the country’s asset market for the rest of 2013.“For investors in Korea, the market may still come under pressure

The nation relies more heavily on credit cards then any other payment method. According to government statistics, about 65 percent of the nation’s payments are via credit cards, in comparison to Australia at 47 percent, the United States at 37 percent and Japan at 16 percent. The same research reveals that one economically active Korean on average possesses 4.7 credit cards. Believing that the nation’s excessive reliance on credit cards has led to today’s daunting household debt, the Financial S

The nation’s annual consumption of rice in 2012 was half of what it was three decades ago, the state-run Statistics Korea said. Compared to 2011, the 2012 consumption also fell about 2.0 percent, from 71.2 kilograms to 69.8 kilograms per capita. The data reveals that in 2012, Koreans consumed about 191 grams of rice, or less than one and a half bowls, per day on average. “The rice consumption in households has been dropping largely due to increasing demand for alternatives to rice and instant fo

The nation’s main bourse has not been excluded from the yearly list of public agencies, the Ministry of Finance announced Thursday.In its unveiling of the 2013 list for public agencies, the Finance Ministry said the Korea Exchange will still be placed under state control this year. The government has “no stake” in the bourse.While the ministry under the Lee Myung-bak administration designated it as a public agency in 2009, there has been growing criticism as no such case exists in financial mark

The Korean economy will gradually regain momentum as the global economic recovers, the Korean Center for International Finance said in a research report released on Monday.Citing Goldman Sachs, the KCIF stated that the incoming administration’s stimulus plans along with a positive outlook on China’s economic growth will enable the domestic economy to keep building momentum for recovery, despite lowered expectations over the nation’s economic growth.Goldman Sachs cut Korea’s expected economic gro

Samsung Card Co. said Monday it posted a net loss of 2.6 billion won ($2.4 million) in the fourth quarter of 2012 due to a decrease in commission income.From October through December, the nation’s No. 2 credit card firm made sales of about 7.95 billion won, down about 7.4 percent from the same period in 2011.The firm’s operating loss amounts to about 3.1 billion won, a sharp contrast to the 73 billion won operating profit posted a year earlier. A decrease in commission rates caused the loss, Sam

The Financial Supervisory Service imposed on three foreign-owned brokerage firms ― Deutsche Securities Korea, Credit Suisse’s Korean operation and CLSA Korea ― fines worth 37.5 million won ($35,000) each for breaching real-name account rules. They were also issued a caution.A foreign securities firm has expressed unease about the nation’s financial regulator’s recent sanction on them for leaking customers’ information abroad.An executive from one of the three firms, who declined to be named, sai

Shinhan Financial Group ranked among this year’s top 100 global sustainable firms by Corporate Knights, a Toronto-based media agency, at the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Shinhan ranked the 86th among the 100 sustainable firms as the only Korean firm, the Korean financial group said. The Canadian media and investment research firm compiles and announces the annual list of “The Global 100,” or top 100 sustainable global companies, to recognize environment-friendly and energy-sav

Korea spent about $7.7 billion on royalty payments, including the usage of intellectual property rights, to foreign firms for the first 11 months of 2012, data from the Bank of Korea and Idea Bridge Asset Management showed Wednesday.The payments posted a 5.5 percent growth from the previous year, according to the central bank. But royalties paid to local information technology firms remained at $3.24 billion during that period, bringing the overall balance to a deficit of $4.45 billion, accordin

The Korea Finance Corp. plans to increase its financial support to the nation’s small and medium companies in 2013, the state-run finance promoter said on Monday in a New Year’s press conference. The state-run agency plans to assign about 7.6 trillion won, or about two-thirds of the company’s 12.2 trillion won capital for this year, to support small and medium enterprises.“We will be spending 62 percent of our total budget to support small and medium-sized companies,” said KoFC president and chi

Hong Kong-based private equity firm VVL expressed its willingness to participate in a bidding to take over Ssangyong Engineering & Construction Co., industrial sources said Sunday.If successful, VVL will become the largest shareholder of the Korean builder firm, replacing the state-run Korea Asset Management Corp., or KAMCO, Ssangyong’s current largest shareholder. Ssangyong E&C has been accepting applications from developers here and abroad since last November. The bid will most likely close be

Growing gross national income, has not led to equal growth in household income, according to the Bank of Korea. The effect is particularly strong in economically polarized countries such as Korea that depend on corporate growth to boost the economy.Research released Monday by the BOK reveals that Korea’s average household income is falling in relation to GNI, indicating that the financial situation of ordinary families is falling behind that of the national economy.Between 1995 and 2011, househo

The year 2013 will be the investors’ struggle for a comeback amid a low-yield environment, making high-yield bonds and emerging market equities attractive, said Philip Poole, global head of macro and investment strategy at the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. on Monday.According to HSBC’s scenario, the key developed world interest rates will stay close to zero for at least another two years. Poole advised investing in emerging countries rather than developed countries, and to go for private b

Global asset management firm BlackRock has predicted that bonds of Northeast Asian countries and Chinese real estate will be the best pick for global investors in 2013.“Asian and emerging market fixed incomes experienced strong inflows in 2012 relative to other fixed income markets, and we anticipate this trend continuing into 2013,” said Joel Kim, BlackRock’s managing director and head of Asia-Pacific fixed income, at a press conference last week.The Asian fixed-income market will show a positi

Despite Chinese manufacturers’ aggressive push amid a global economic recession, most high-tech products at Korean exporters have maintained their leadership status, industry sources and the Korea International Trade Association said on Sunday.Korea had a total of 45 exported items that enjoyed the world’s largest market share for two consecutive years since 2010. Semiconductors, steel, shipbuilding, petrochemicals and auto parts are among this list. Adding to this feat, in 2011, over a dozen ex

Credit card issuers are grappling to find a new growth engine in a saturated local financial market by mapping out projects to make inroads into foreign countries.Their movement, however, faces deadlock amid protectionist stances in China and some Southeast Asian countries, officials in the non-banking industry said Thursday.A Lotte Card official stressed that the credit card business is one of the hardest sectors to expand overseas.“Major card firms with excellent products and services have fai

Companies have increased their spending on entertainment despite the prolonged economic slump. A total sum of 460,614 companies’ annual entertainment spending in 2011 surpassed 8 trillion won ($7.5 billion), according to data from the National Tax Service. The figure is about 9 percent up from in 2010. By sector, finance and insurance spent the most, about 16 times more than that of the farm and fisheries sectors.The NTS added that firms with weak sales generally spent more money on entertainmen

Big retailers stopped offering sales based on interest-free monthly installments, as a protest against the revised laws which would burden both credit card firms and card settlement membership stores for additional costs. Despite customers’ complaints due to the unexpected halt of the zero-interest installment sales, retail chains including E-mart, online shopping mall G-market, Shinsegae Department Store and other retailers decided to ban the zero-interest installment promotions.The long-standi

Korea may attain the goal of per capita gross domestic product of $30,000 by around 2017, analysts predicted on Thursday. Surpassing the $30,000 mark is widely regarded as a yardstick to determine if a country is advanced. But the analysts said whether the nation will be able to attain the feat depends on sustained economic growth and the pace of the local currency’s gain.Analysis has it that the Korean currency should appreciate about 33 percent to the U.S. dollar from the current level. The In

LG Electronics launched the world’s first 55-inch high-definition television with organic light-emitting diode display, or OLED high-definition television, in Seoul on Wednesday, and began receiving pre-orders.Model 55EM9700 is 4 millimeters thick ― thinner than a smartphone ― and weighs about 10 kilograms. With anti-reflection technology, the contrast stays consistent regardless of the viewing angle or lighting. The device is priced at 11 million won, or about $10,000.In contrast to traditional