Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok has raised the bar for state-owned enterprises and quasi-sovereign institutions to commence management reform and reduce their excessive debt.Finance Ministry officials said that the deputy prime minister will also hold related government agencies responsible should they fail to properly oversee their companies and institutions that fall under their management jurisdiction.They said that the finance minister’s tougher calls for reforms and

Officials at the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance once again expressed concerns over the Korean won’s appreciation, indicating their intentions to control the won’s strength against the dollar despite cautions from their U.S. counterparts.The exchange rate rose 1.5 won against the dollar to 1,057.9 won on Wednesday as forex officials indicated that it would not rule out additional market intervention to tame the won’s rise.The won has been gaining as foreign investors reall

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday that it revised downward Korea’s 2014 economic growth outlook from 4 percent to 3.8 percent, as Asia’s fourth-largest economy is highly exposed to external factors stemming from unorthodox policies implemented by advanced economies.The OECD, however, raised its initial 2013 growth projection for the Korean economy from 2.6 percent to 2.7 percent on the back of “modest” global recovery.The global economy is expected to grow 2.

Korea’s financial regulators will require domestic banks to apply tougher rules and procedures for customers opening a bank account in an effort to prevent them from establishing accounts under borrowed names used by third parties for slush funds and other financial irregularities.Consumers will no longer be able to open an account within five minutes at banks from next month as the Financial Supervisory Service will require banks to go through rigorous identification screening and verification,

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Monday that it will jointly host the G20 Seoul Conference with Australia’s department of finance, the Korea Institute of Finance and the Korea Development Institute on Dec. 18-19.Australia will host the G20 in 2014, and Sydney will host the first of two meetings of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors on Feb. 21-23, 2014, according to the Australian prime minister’s office. Korea’s Finance Ministry said the Seoul Conference will invit

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance will give more power to its steering committee to boost its oversight and evaluation of hundreds of state-run companies, institutions and quasi-sovereign enterprises, it said Sunday.The committee will be given more authority to operate like a “creditor bank” over the management of state-run companies to prevent executives from running the companies recklessly under heavy debt and receiving excessive pay and benefits.It will strengthen its management evaluatio

Reassurance by the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman nominee Janet Yellen that it will maintain its quantitative easing until the country has made progress in growth and employment has boosted global stocks, including Korea’s last week.The Korean benchmark KOSPI rebounded above the psychologically important 2,000 threshold for the first time in six trading days last Friday, driven by improved investor sentiment following Yellen’s support for an easy money policy.However, global markets, including

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said that the government will tame excessive borrowing and executive pay at state-owned enterprises and put their finances under control.In a meeting with chief executives of 12 state-run enterprises on Thursday, the deputy prime minister warned them that “the party is over,” saying that the government will put a stop to their relentless greed for higher bonuses and salaries, and overleveraging.“The party is over now. We should face reality

Bank of Korea Gov. Kim Choong-soo said Thursday that it was highly “inappropriate” to say that the country was able to achieve current account surpluses mainly due to its undervalued currency.The governor’s remarks to the press came after the BOK monetary policy committee unanimously decided to keep its key base rate unchanged at 2.5 percent for the sixth straight month.Gov. Kim said that Korea saw “surpluses mostly through trade with emerging economies, not with developed economies,” adding tha

The government plans to further open up its state-run enterprises’ cash reserves to increase investment in business projects and human capital in the hope of encouraging the private sector to follow suit this year.Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said in an economic-related meeting on Wednesday that it will support its state-run enterprises to invest another some 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) during the rest of the year.The 1.5 trillion won scheme includes 100 billion wo

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance has announced plans to expand the country’s foreign investor program by awarding residential eligibility status to more foreign businesspeople investing in Korean funds.The ministry said Tuesday that it would boost its budget for the program to set up advisory centers at Incheon International Airport to promote and provide information to foreign investors regarding immigrant investment.The program, which was implemented in May, was part of efforts to boost Ko

Korea’s securities industry saw its net profit decrease in the first half of this year due to lowered earnings from brokerages and proprietary trading, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service on Monday.The data showed that 62 securities companies’ net profit stood at 251.6 billion won ($235.7 million) in April-September for 2013, down about 63 percent from 674.5 billion won a year ago.Their profitability measured by return on equity stood at 0.6 percent, down 1 percentage point

The majority of Koreans who took out “jeonse” loans for apartment deposits are middle class and under age 50, according to data from the Bank of Korea on Monday.The data showed that homeowners borrowed more than 60.1 trillion won ($56.3 billion) for jeonse payments in the first half of this year, double that of 2009.About 73 percent of such loans, or 44.1 trillion won, were taken out by those aged below 50 in the mid-income group, the BOK data noted.Jeonse loans to the top 20 percent accounted f

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok said that small and medium-sized medical enterprises seeking sustainable growth should compete more in the overseas market.In a meeting with economy-related ministers on Friday, the deputy prime minister said that Korean SMEs, including health care service companies, should make efforts to seek innovation and growth abroad instead of trying to remain stable and protected in a small domestic market.“If they want to be a lion, they should go

Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday that the country’s holding companies had seen their average debt-to-equity ratio fall, with the figure well within regulatory standards.Korea’s holding companies’ average debt ratio stood at 37.2 percent as of September this year, down from 42.5 percent last year and comfortably below the 200 percent regulatory maximum. Woongjin Holdings saw its capital erode as it faced a liquidity crunch. HiteJinro Holdings’ debt ratio stood at 87.4 percent, follow

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok further urged lawmakers to pass and legislate key economic bills and amendments at the National Assembly.In a meeting with lawmakers of the ruling Saenuri Party on Tuesday, Hyun and ruling party officials agreed to first move forward with 15 of the some 100 bills pending legislation at the National Assembly.Hyun said that the government has worked hard in devising a set of measures aimed at revitalizing the economy such as policies promotin

The U.S. tapering of quantitative easing is expected to further increase Korea’s household borrowing costs and pose a systemic risk to the real economy due to an increase in interest rates worldwide, analysts warned.Korean households, whose outstanding debt reached some 1 quadrillion won early this year, will see their repayment burden rise due to higher interest rates in Korea once the Federal Reserve begins normalizing its monetary policy.The interest rate on 10-year treasuries is projected to

Korea’s economic competitiveness is expected to be severely affected by an increasing number of workers moving from high value-added industries to low value-added ones, analysts at the Bank of Korea warned.Almost 53 percent of employees of high value-added sectors such as manufacturing and information technology moved into low value-added services industries over the last decade, according to a BOK report by a group of analysts.The figure, which compares 2003 and 2013 data, increased from turnov

Korea is expected to face a conflict of interest with the U.S. over foreign exchange policies as the world’s largest economy has urged Asia’s fourth-largest economy to refrain from market intervention.The U.S. last week called for Korea to maintain a transparent foreign exchange market and reduce its reliance on exports amid the Korean government’s toughened stance against the won’s excessive gain against the dollar.The U.S. also said that it would “press” its Korean partners not to control the

Korea’s stock market and local currency could retreat instead of rally after the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee set a firmer stance on its monetary stimulus, analysts and policymakers said.The benchmark KOSPI fell 1.43 percent to 2,030.09 on Thursday following overnight losses on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Wednesday at 15,618.76, down 0.39 percent. The Korean won lost 0.5 won closing at 1060.7 won to the U.S. dollar, as demand for the greenback rose as foreign