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Lee Kyung-min

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Banking & Finance

Foreigners increasingly join Korea’s alternative stock exchange

An increasing number of foreign investors have been using Nextrade, Korea’s newly launched alternative trading system (ATS), over the past three months, buoyed by reduced internal and external uncertainties since April, data showed Sunday. The positive development followed an April inflow of offshore investor funds that net purchased large-cap KOSPI shares for the first time in 10 months. Many say more foreign funds will find their way into the long-undervalued equity market this year, especially since many foreign brokerages are seeking to join the platform. Still, challenges remain. Institutional investor enthusiasm remains poor thanks to questions of system stability, including order malfunctions that led to outright service trading halts. A new order mechanism on Nextrade had an error, leading to the government-mandated system halt. Users of Kiwoom, Mirae Asset, Meritz and Toss experienced major inconveniences. According to Nextrade, foreign investors accounted for 8.9 percent of total trading volume during the first week of June. This was a sharp increase from 0.4 percent in March,

Jun 9, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Foreigners increasingly join Korea’s alternative stock exchange
Economy

BOK, gov't urged to coordinate policies on won-based stablecoins

The government and Bank of Korea (BOK) appear to be on a collision course over whether non-bank private entities should be allowed to issue won-based stable coins, which was a main campaign pledge of President Lee Jae-myung, observers said Sunday. Further advancing the policy drive is the recent addition of Kim Yong-beom, former CEO of Hashed Open Research, a private blockchain, Web3 and crypto think tank, as top presidential economic policy adviser. Kim, the former vice finance minister and vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), is a vocal advocate for the prompt institutionalization of private won-based stablecoins. However, the central bank vehemently opposes this view, stressing that the means of payment essentially functions as a substitute for fiat currency, wildly undermining the effectiveness of monetary policy. Also under threat is financial stability — one of the dual mandates of the central bank alongside price stability. These problems include the possibility of a "coin run” whereby a large number of customers seek redemption en masse, alarmed by a shar

Jun 8, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
BOK, gov't urged to coordinate policies on won-based stablecoins
Economy

US exceptionalism nears end, Korean currency to gain against dollar: BNP Paribas economist

The world is witnessing a possible end to U.S. exceptionalism, the seemingly unbreakable, unchallenged and dominant worldview that has long prevailed, according to a BNP Paribas economist. Most currencies, including the Korean won, would, in this new world of less U.S. exceptionalism, appreciate against the world's reserve currency, he also said. In a recent email interview with The Korea Times, Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP Paribas Fortis, said that for the past 15 years — since the end of the 2008 global financial crisis — the world has been more than ready and willing to continue financing the ever-increasing U.S. debt. However, the current market is experiencing underweight equity, losses in the U.S. treasury market and a decline in the U.S. dollar. This means that money is leaving the U.S. at times of increased volatility. “We could be looking at the end of American exceptionalism and money slowly but certainly leaving American shores,” Gijsels said. The author of “The New World Economy in 5 Trends” said, in practice, a lot of countries were happy to re

Jun 5, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
US exceptionalism nears end, Korean currency to gain against dollar: BNP Paribas economist
Economy

Cross-border M&A expert joins Yoon & Yang

New York-licensed attorney Ryu Myung-hyun of law firm Yoon & Yang said Thursday that he seeks to bolster the firm's corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory capabilities, utilizing two decades of experience and global perspective gained through a dozen high-profile domestic and international merger deals. The expert in the field of cross-border M&A has more than 24 years of experience across 50 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. His specialties include M&A, private equity, venture capital, joint ventures, internal corporate investigations and anti-corruption and due diligence. “I am glad to help the firm provide wide-ranging consult services in capital markets, both domestically and internationally,” Ryu said. “Tailored advisory assistance will help our client on complex cross-border transactions and M&A deals, fortifying their global success.” He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from Sogang University before receiving a Juris Doctor, a graduate-level professional degree, from Vanderbilt Law School in Tennessee in 2

Jun 5, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Cross-border M&A expert joins Yoon & Yang
Economy

Why mortgage rates go up despite falling policy rate

Many commercial lenders are hiking their mortgage rates less than a week after the central bank lowered the key rate to 2.5 percent, as they seek to curb a surge in mortgage borrowing, market watchers said Wednesday. The move is driven by a sharp increase in household mortgage demand over the past few months, powered by the short-lived easing in the property purchase regulation that ended with an even tighter standard. Also at play are growing market expectations that home prices will spike under the new Lee Jae-myung administration, coupled with last-minute borrowing demands ahead of July’s stricter borrowing limits. The tighter debt service ratio (DSR) regulation will apply higher add-ons, or stress rates, to increase the debt to be repaid annually, thereby reducing the maximum borrowable amount. Financial authorities say household debt extended by banks jumped about 6 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in May, the largest increase since October 2023. According to the financial market data, Woori and KB Kookmin recently raised their floating mortgage rates by 0.06 percentage points and 0.04

Jun 4, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Why mortgage rates go up despite falling policy rate
Banking & Finance

Banks likely to face pressure from new president to write off debts, reduce interest margins

Commercial lenders are expected to face growing pressure to extend loan maturities or write them off entirely, under President Lee Jae-myung’s initiative to support small businesses and the self-employed hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, market watchers said Wednesday. Also in focus is whether lenders will lower discretionary premiums — or add-ons — a much-criticized method of protecting profit margins even after their borrowing costs fell following a recent Bank of Korea rate cut. Banks say that so-called "mutual growth" financial aid packages are widely expected, amid criticism that their record profits come almost entirely from interest income — not because of significant innovation efforts or broader growth strategies. But the lenders argue that the government should stop framing them as profiteers and ease and scrap excessive regulations that hinder their business expansions, digital drives and cryptocurrency asset services. “It’s an extremely sensitive issue, given the transition to the new administration,” a banking industry official said, adding that many commercial len

Jun 4, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Banks likely to face pressure from new president to write off debts, reduce interest margins
Economy

AI to promote long term growth in GDP, investment, consumption: BIS

Artificial intelligence (AI) can boost growth in gross domestic product, investment and consumption in the long term, according to a senior official at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Tuesday. The expansion of AI adoption will have a positive effect on economic capacity, propelled by higher productivity growth. However, its short-term effects on inflation and industry-specific dynamics may pose complex challenges for monetary policymakers, according to the report authored by the bank for central banks. The findings were presented at the 2025 Bank of Korea International Conference. This year’s theme was “Structural Shifts and Monetary Policy.” “AI adoption will likely boost output, consumption and investment over time,” said Leonardo Gambacorta, head of the emerging markets unit at the BIS, during the conference. AI has, in his view, great potential to mitigate long-term weakness in demands from structural challenges, including population aging, reshoring and supply chain reorientation. “AI, in general, helps stronger growth and productivity, but policy responses

Jun 3, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
AI to promote long term growth in GDP, investment, consumption: BIS
Economy

Banks to unload real estate to improve financial soundness

Commercial lenders and insurers are unloading real estate assets to bolster their capital and liquidity profiles, in order to better prepare for stringent regulations, industry officials said Tuesday. Most pressing is the need to increase Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratios ahead of tighter stress buffer regulations expected before the end of the year. The ratio measures a financial firm’s highest-quality capital relative to risk-weighted assets. The higher the figure, the more sound their capital profile. Real estate is a high-risk asset. Cash secured from the property selloffs can lead to a major improvement in the ratio. Woori, KB Kookmin and Shinhan recently announced plans to reduce the number of vacant and unused branches. Woori Financial Group plans to sell high-value assets, a condition tied to the long-awaited approval for its acquisition of Tongyang Life and ABL Life. Included are Woori Financial Digital Tower in Myeong-dong, Seoul, and the employee training center in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. Woori bought the 22-story digital tower in July 2019 for 209.2 billion won ($

Jun 3, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Banks to unload real estate to improve financial soundness
Economy

Tariff-induced inflation will not be persistent: Fed official

‘One-time price increase will go down quickly, warrants greater focus on real economy’ Any tariff-induced inflation will be short-lived, and inflation expectations remain anchored, prompting the central bank in the world’s largest economy to cut rates later this year, according to a U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) official, Monday. A one-time price increase will likely go down quickly, allowing the U.S. monetary policy body to focus more on economic output, Christopher J. Waller, member of the board of governors of the U.S. Fed, said. But the balance between inflation and economic growth will become more critical if the price increase is persistent. He spoke under the theme of “The Effects of Tariffs on the Three I’s: Inflation, Inflation Persistence, and Inflation Expectations” at the 2025 Bank of Korea (BOK) International Conference. This year’s theme was “Structural Shifts and Monetary Policy.” “Given my belief, I support looking through any tariff effects on near term inflation when setting the policy rate,” Waller said during the conference at the central bank headq

Jun 2, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Tariff-induced inflation will not be persistent: Fed official
Economy

Top 10 Korean listed companies lag far behind US peers in profit margins

Leading Korean listed firms are falling behind their U.S. counterparts in profit margins, hindered by insufficient innovation efforts to cultivate next-generation growth drivers, market watchers said Friday. According to the Korea Exchange, the operating margin of Korea’s top 10 listed companies averaged just over 13 percent, far lower than 31.4 percent of the top 10 U.S. firms. The difference has grown to 18 percentage points in 2024 from 10.5 percentage points in 2014. Further widening the gap is Korea’s lack of efforts to nurture artificial intelligence (AI), human robots, autonomous vehicles and biotech. The top U.S. leaders are sourcing their profits to reinvest into high-return, high-tech ventures, unlike Korean firms whose hefty investments are limited by a lack of capital and interest and drives to identify new projects. “Korea’s days as a manufacturing powerhouse over the past two decades are numbered,” an industry watcher said. “Korea is lagging in developing software. Investment in hardware can only take the country so far.” AI and autonomous technology are promisin

May 31, 2025By Lee Kyung-min
Top 10 Korean listed companies lag far behind US peers in profit margins
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