Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter
Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Public Procurement Service Administrator Jung Moo-kyung, front row left, holds his copy of a signed memorandum of understanding while shaking hands with his Cambodian counterpart at the finance ministry of Phnom Penh, Oct. 2 (local time). Under the agreement, Korea will help the Southeast Asian country adopt its e-procurement system, the Korea ONline E-Procurement System (KONEPS). Courtesy of Public Procurement Service
Kyobo Life Chief Operating Officer Yun Your-hyun, second from right, speaks with officials from fintech startups at the firm's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Kyobo LifeBy Lee Kyung-min Kyobo Life Insurance has opened a co-working space to be shared with budding fintech startups to boost closer communication and effective product development, the firm said Wednesday. Three fintech firms specializing in healthcare have set up office on the 17th floor of the firm's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. They are among 12 fintech players selected via “Innostage,” an open competition launched in July to choose up to three business partners for Korea's third-largest life insurer. Innostage, a word combination of innovation and stage, is one of the firm's key future growth initiatives to become a digital leader via closer integration with fintechs. “We expect the space will give competitors a working environment that not only helps with creative work but also easy communication with us whenever the need arises,” a Kyobo official said.“I
Consumer price falls for 2 months in a row By Lee Kyung-min Concerns about deflation ― a decline in the general prices of goods and services ― are spreading fast after government data Tuesday showed consumer prices fell for two consecutive months in September, a first in the country's history. The finance ministry and the central bank fret to contain the fear citing the “one-off, supply-driven base effect” from last year's heat wave and spike in oil prices.Yet experts say the unprecedented data could put Asia's fourth-largest economy on a faster-than-expected downward spiral amid a clear downturn.This is indicated by exports that fell for 10 months in a row, clouded further by a Korea-Japan trade feud expected to take a considerable toll in the coming months. Statistics Korea said Tuesday that the consumer prices measured as headline inflation fell 0.4 percent in September from the year before, mostly due to a price decline in agricultural produce and petroleum products as well as increased public spending on free education for high school seniors. While core inflation, e
Korea ranks 144th out of 162 countries in labor market regulationsBy Lee Kyung-min The “rigid” labor market remains the biggest factor that undermines the nation's corporate competitiveness, according to a free market advocacy group Friday.According to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 Annual Report, Korea ranked 33rd in 2017 out of 162 countries. Most notable was that it ranked 144th in the labor market regulations category, one of five areas of evaluation.The remaining four areas were size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money and freedom to trade internationally. The index with 42 data points measures the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries are supportive of economic freedom.Center for Free Enterprise (CFE), a Seoul-based nonprofit organization and co-author of the report, said Korea ranked 16th in sound money scoring 9.60, and 30th in legal system and property rights scoring 6.47. It came in 37th in credit market regulations with a score of 9.33. It ranked 49th in the size of government scori
Korea Securities Depository (KSD) Senior Managing Director Park Im-chool, fifth from right, poses with students from Mongolia, Vietnam and Indonesia, at the KSD Seoul branch, Sept. 26. During the five-day training from Sept. 23 to 27, the nine students visited KSD, the Securities Museum, securities firms and cultural sites as part of the KSD-organized program to help them learn Korean and better understand the Korean financial market. / Courtesy of KSD
By Lee Kyung-min The sales of high-risk derivative financial products have nearly doubled over the past two years, fueling concerns that a far greater number of investors will see their losses snowball in the months to come, data showed Friday. According to data submitted to Rep. Je Youn-kyung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), 16 commercial banks sold over a combined 1 million such products worth 49.8 trillion won ($41.4 billion) as of August, nearly double the 2017 figure when it sold 664,310 products worth 30.7 trillion won. The products in question including derivative-linked funds (DLF) are structured to track the performance of underlying assets such as interest rates and government-issued bond yields. Their returns are determined by the movements of those assets. Other products such as equity-linked securities and derivative-linked securities can be combined and sold in the form of equity-linked trust or derivative-linked trusts. They can also be sold in the form of equity-linked funds or derivative-linked funds. Over a third,
By Lee Kyung-min Korea's financial stability has deteriorated over the past few months due to a mixture of domestic and global negative developments, the central bank said Thursday. The Bank of Korea (BOK) issued a quarterly report on the financial stability measured by 20 indices including debt amount and their subsequent default risks, derivative products-related risks and exchange rate fluctuations. Chief among the negatives are heightened volatility in the foreign exchange market triggered and prolonged by the drawn-out U.S.-China trade feud, further compounded by falling corporate margins, an inevitable consequences of the export-reliant economy. The Financial Stability Index, an overall measure of the financial market risk, stood at 8.3 in August, surpassing the 8-point mark for the first time since early 2016. On a scale of zero to 100, readings moving within a range of eight and 22 means the country is advised to take caution to avoid a possible financial crisis, while readings over 22 means the country has entered one. Since 1996, out of eight instances whereby the index sur
An outdoor billboard of Phnom Penh Commercial Bank in Siem Reap, Cambodia / Courtesy of JB Financial GroupBy Lee Kyung-min JB Financial Group is seeking to strengthen marketing in Cambodia, home to Phnom Penh Commercial Bank (PPCBank), a highly lucrative subsidiary of Jeonbuk Bank, the group's bank subsidiary, the group said Tuesday. The bank in the Southeast Asian country is fast-rising cash cow for the group, with its interest income having jumped to 19 billion won ($15.9 million) in the first six months of 2019, a 32.7 percent increase from a year earlier. The interest income, surpassing the 10 billion won level for the first time since the group acquired the bank, was the top performance among Korean financial services firms with a business presence there. The notable performance followed strong retail business there with localization of manpower, a strategy to hire 98 percent of bank officials at 19 branches from the country to enhance need-based, tailored customer service that extended to corporate financing for small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs). The bank in June signed
gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-min Cryptocurrencies, including the most popular and longest running Bitcoin, are neither legal tender nor a financial product as they are “not cash nor an equity instrument of another entity,” according to the latest decision by an international interpretative body of accounting practices.The decision on the much-disputed digital currencies, which will become an international standard in bookkeeping, is expected to pose further challenges to crypto business operators' years-long efforts to make them recognized as legitimate currencies. This, however, will enable the government to establish a legal basis on taxation and businesses to map out rules on corporate accounting. According to the Korea Accounting Institute (KAI) Monday, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) made the decision after a meeting in London in June. The IFRIC is associated with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation under the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).The standards of IFRS, a not-for-profit int
Shinhan Financial Group Deputy President Park Woo-hyuk, center, poses with U.N. Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) head Eric Usher, left and UNEP FI Banking Team Lead Simon Dettling at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Sept. 22 (local time). Courtesy of Shinhan Financial GroupShinhan, KB sign up for UN-led sustainability initiativeBy Lee Kyung-min Korea's two leading financial groups vowed their continued commitment to join global efforts toward a more sustainable finance system, the groups said Monday. Shinhan Financial Group and KB Financial Group said the group's key executives attended a meeting held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Sept. 22 (local time). They were among the top officials from 130 financial services firms from around the world gathered to sign up for the Principles for Responsible Banking, a set of climate and sustainability principles under the U.N. Environment Program Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). Under such principles, they exchanged and reaffirmed views on the need to boost communication and collaboration to institute measures th