The Korea Times

Dormant brokerage accounts top 50 billion won

By Kang Seung-woo More than 50 billion won ($45.55 million) is lying dormant in inactive accounts at local brokerage houses, the country’s financial watchdog said Tuesday. According to data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), securities companies reported that the amount of money left untouched for more than six months totaled 51.8 billion won in 8.96 million accounts as of June 2010, according to the latest information available. The FSS pointed out that compared with the past record, the money unclaimed by account holders has been rising ― in 2006, the amount in dormant brokerage accounts stood at 38.7 billion won in 6.09 million accounts. Brokerages define inactive accounts as low-balance ones with less than 100,000 won, which have shown no activity such as deposits or withdrawals for more than six months other than posting interest or service charges. The FSS estimates that inactive accounts, which have an more than 100,000 won, could also be substantial. Inactive bank accounts and insurance money not withdrawn by customers for longer than five ye

May 24, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Conglomerates coy about entertainment expenses

By Kang Seung-woo The country’s top 10 business groups are reluctant to unveil how much they spent last year to wine and dine their key contacts. Questions about their charity work, however, generate quick responses. Figures at the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and Chaebul.com (www.chaebul.com), a business website, show that 297 affiliates owned by the top 10 conglomerates spent 191.2 billion won (about $176 million) in entertainment expenses last year, up about 17 percent from the 163.3 billion won they spent in 2009. However, the remaining 284 companies owned by the 10 largest business groups refused to disclose their spending as they aren’t legally obligated to. Among the notable companies refusing to reveal their spending on meals, gifts and other expenses are Samsung Electronics, Asia’s largest electronics company and the undisputed kingpin of Korea Inc., SK Telecom, the country’s biggest mobile phone service operator and LG Group’s trio of technology giants — LG Electronics, LG Display and LG Chem. Refiners SK Innovation, GS Caltex and Hyundai Oil B

May 23, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Middle-age divorces increase

By Kang Seung-woo The number of second marriages among middle-aged persons or older has taken a big jump of late, the national statistical office said Friday. According to Statistics Korea, the number of remarriages among people who are over 50 years of age shot up to 18,791 in 2010. This is up from 5,014 20 years ago and 8,928 from 10 years earlier. The proportion of the “golden” marriages involving people who are over 60 has been increasing as well, hitting 4,812 last year compared with 1,570 20 years ago and 2,291 cases in 2000. Women above the age of 50 who tied the knot again reached 19,056 in 2010, up from 2,081 in 1990 and 4,145 in 2000. The numbers are attributed to an upswing in the number of divorces in this age bracket, with one out of four couples filing for the so-called “twilight divorce,” showing that more people are seeking aggressive solutions in their lives rather than to continue with their first marriage. The number of divorces among males who were over 50 has risen from 3,384 cases in 1990 to 18,791 cases in 2010, while the women seeking div

May 20, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Bad property loans straining banks

By Kang Seung-woo Soured construction loans are continuing to deteriorate the fiscal soundness of banks, according to their first-quarter business figures, the country’s financial watchdog said Friday. According to the latest figures from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), average non-performing project financing (PF) loan ratios of 18 local primary banks reached 18.35 percent in the first quarter of 2011, up from 16.44 percent three months earlier, while their average default rate was tallied at 5.3 percent in the cited period, compared with 4.25 percent recorded in the previous quarter. The numbers also compare with 3.41 and 2.90 percent, respectively, recorded at the end of March in 2010. The average non-performing loan rate, a barometer of asset soundness, notches loans that have been in default for more than three months. In terms of the value, the banks saw their PF loans increase. The property-linked bad loans stood at 6.7 trillion won ($6.17 billion) in the January-to-March period, up from 6.4 trillion won three months earlier, while the amount in arrears

May 20, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Korea ranks 22nd in global competitiveness

Up one place from last year and highest ranking ever By Kang Seung-woo Korea moved up one notch from last year to 22nd out of 59 countries in this year’s global competitiveness rankings, compiled by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) for its World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) 2011. Korea’s ranking for 2011 marks its third consecutive year of improvement and is its highest since 1997 when they were first compiled. Japan also moved up one spot to 26th, while China fell by one to 19th. The United States regained its No. 1 position. The IMD is a Switzerland-based institute that issues competitiveness rankings every year based on a country’s economic achievements, infrastructure and government, and corporate efficiency. Korea scored 78.499 points out of 100 to place behind New Zealand, which had 79.799 points, but ahead of Belgium at 77.599 points. The United States, which lost the title as the most competitive country last year for the first time in decades to Singapore, retook the top spot, sharing it with Hong Kong at 100 points, followed b

May 18, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Regulator says multiple bidders want Woori

By Kang Seung-woo Korea’s top financial regulator said multiple bidders including Korea Development Bank (KDB) Financial Group are looking to buy the state-controlled Woori Financial Group. “KDB Financial is one candidate that wants to acquire Woori Financial,” Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Kim Seok-dong said in a forum held in Seoul, Tuesday night. “There is more than one valid bidder in the Woori auction.” Kim didn’t name potential bidders, other than KDB, or reveal how many there are. His remarks came after the Public Fund Oversight Committee (PFOC) announced a road map for the sale of Woori, restarting the stalled privatization of the nation’s largest banking group. KDB Chairman Kang Man-soo has been a strong supporter of a “mega-bank” by merging Woori, the nation’s largest financial services provider by assets. “We have felt embarrassed by reports portraying KDB as good as winning the deal,” he said. KDB’s potential acquisition of Woori is seen as the government’s move to backpedal from its promise to privatize Woori since KDB itself is also un

May 18, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Hyundai Capital CEO may be disciplined

By Kang Seung-woo The nation’s financial watchdog said Wednesday that it plans to take disciplinary action against Hyundai Capital and its executives and employees for the company’s ineptitude in protecting its data from cyber criminals. Disciplinary action against its CEO Chung Tae-young has not been ruled out. According to an intermediate briefing from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the company’s website was attacked between March 6 and April 7 and personal information of around 1.75 million customers was breached by hackers who implanted a malicious program there. But it said that no financial damage has been reported in relation to the hacking case so far, but potential damage is probable down the road. Holding Hyundai Capital responsible for lax computer system maintenance, the FSS will take the case to its disciplinary decision committee to decide on the punishment for the company and its staff including CEO Chung. “Hyundai Capital should be held responsible for causing public concerns on the security of electronic financial transactions and triggerin

May 18, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

College grads outnumber high school grads in employment

By Kang Seung-woo The number of college graduates on payrolls exceeded that of employees with just high school diplomas this year. According to the latest figures from Statistics Korea Tuesday, 9.54 million people with two-year junior college degrees or higher were employed in March, compared with 9.50 million high school graduates ― the first time the balance has been reversed. The turnaround continued in April, as employees who completed higher education numbered about 25,000 more than those who graduated from high school for a ratio of 9.64 million to 9.61 million. The latest statistics show there are 24.3 million employed both on regular payrolls and on a temporary basis. Among the economically active population aged over 15, the number of high school graduates stood at 15.74 million in comparison with 12.90 million for college graduates. Despite the inferiority in number, however, college graduates put up better figures. In terms of employment rates, college graduates outperformed high school graduates in April by a ratio of 74.7 percent to 61.1 percent, wh

May 17, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

Credit card sector found most lucrative in finance

By Kang Seung-woo Following the high risk, the credit card industry has been found to be the most lucrative sector in the financial sector, a report from the financial watchdog showed Tuesday. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), return on assets (ROA) of local credit card companies averaged 5.45 percent last year, compared with banks’ 0.54 percent, capital firms’ 1.91 percent and savings banks’ minus 0.67 percent. The number of the secondary lenders is a record from July to December 2010. ROA is a key profitability ratio which measures the amount of profit made per dollar on the assets that they own. Card issuers’ ROA has been consistently higher than those of other financial players which have been between 4 percent and 7 percent over the past five years. Their ROA tallied 6.91 percent in 2006 and peaked at 7.42 percent in 2007 before falling to 4.17 percent in 2008 due to the global financial crisis. It landed at 4.3 percent in 2009. In comparison, banks have been stuck at around the 1 percent level in the cited period, ranging from 0.39 percent

May 17, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Companies

One-trick pony

Over-reliance on exports hurts Korea’s growth potential By Kang Seung-woo The Korean economy’s dependence on trade reached 87.9 percent last year, as its exports took a sharp increase on the back of a global economic recovery, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Sunday. Trade dependence is the ratio of imports and exports against gross domestic product. The number, up 5.5 percent from the 82.4 percent seen in 2009, is the second highest level after 92.1 percent tallied in 2008, which is the third straight year for the trade dependence to remain at over 80 percent. Until 2007, Korea’s trade dependence never passed the 80 percent, which indicates that economic uncertainties here have grown. The ratio logged 51.1 percent in 1990, but climbed to 65.2 percent after the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. In the early 2000s, trade dependence remained below 60 percent but the figure rose to over 90 percent in 2008 due to sluggish exports and the won’s devaluation sparked by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. The high dependence means the economy is vulne

May 15, 2011By Kang Seung-woo

Kang Seung-woo

Read more

Dormant brokerage accounts top 50 billion won

Conglomerates coy about entertainment expenses

Middle-age divorces increase

Bad property loans straining banks

Korea ranks 22nd in global competitiveness

Regulator says multiple bidders want Woori

Hyundai Capital CEO may be disciplined

College grads outnumber high school grads in employment

Credit card sector found most lucrative in finance

One-trick pony

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