Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Local commercial lenders are coming under increasing pressure to cough up about 1.9 trillion won ($1.4 billion) for a “windfall tax,” which the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), seeks to impose on interest income generated almost exclusively as a consequence of rapid central bank key rate hikes over the past few years.
A man surnamed Kim, who is in his 30s, managed to borrow 2 million won ($1,504) from a credit card company, just days before his loan from a different card company was about to mature.
A senior economist has published a book in English to share insights into how Korea’s fast-paced culture led to the rapid economic and democratic development of the country.
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) has outlined a budget spending increase to tackle demographic changes, polarization, economic slowdown, violent crimes and the climate crisis, Monday.
The government is moving to lower the inheritance tax, as indicated by the country’s top financial policymaker, according to market watchers. However, attempts to ease capital gains tax requirements for large shareholders are failing, as public support wanes for the ruling party and the government ahead of the general election in April next year.
A group of top executives of Standard Chartered (SC) Group met at the SC Bank Korea for a board meeting, a clear indication of the group’s committed partnership with Korea, the local subsidiary of the global lender said Thursday.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) fined Woori Financial Group 100 million won ($76,254) after an employee of the group’s savings bank subsidiary was found to have embezzled over 200 million won, in yet another indication of internal control failures, according to market watchers, Thursday.
The Korea Times is pleased to announce the winners of its 19th English Economic Essay Contest for university students written on one of two subjects: “Unprecedented changes are expected with the full-fledged launch of Al, such as ChatGPT. Discuss how commercial banks may utilize generative Al in benefiting their customers,” and “Banks have traditionally relied on interest margins for their revenue, but they are now trying to diversify their business portfolios with new businesses such as delivery services and used car sales. Suggest fresh ideas for banks wishing to expand their boundaries through business diversification.”
Korea will be able to better stabilize its foreign exchange market and boost the local currency’s long-term standing in the global market after the country was removed from the U.S. currency monitoring list, according to market watchers, Wednesday. Korea's delisting, Nov. 7 (local time), came as a first since 2016 when the U.S. Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 took effect.
The combined net income of local commercial lenders will fall to 19.6 trillion won ($14.9 billion) next year from 21.6 trillion won this year, led by a slowdown in healthy asset growth associated with credit risks, compounded by reductions in net interest margins (NIM) due to declining interest rates, according to a private think tank.