The Korea Times

KRX to cancel 'fat finger' trading errors

By Yoon Ja-young Starting next year, stock investors will be allowed to cancel trades in the event of significant ordering mistakes, the country’s stock market operator said Monday.The Korea Exchange (KRX) is preparing measures to rescue large investors in the main bourse, the KOSPI, and the tech-loaded KOSDAQ market in case of big ordering errors.There now is a rescue program only for derivative investors, adopted last year following HanMag Securities’ “fat finger” mistake.The small-scale brokerage specializing in futures sustained 46.2 billion won, or $40.6 million, in losses after an employee wrongly exercised options exceptionally higher or lower than market prices on the KOSPI200 index market in December 2013.KRX covered the loss from its reserves for emergency settlements and sought reimbursement from HanMag.Some brokerages paid back their gains from the trading error, but a U.S. hedge fund refused to return 36 billion won it had gained.HanMag went into bankruptcy early last year.To prevent such severe consequences, a rescue program was adopted for

Nov 2, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

'Reform more crucial than extra budget'

By Yoon Ja-young The government is set to inject a 22 trillion won ($19.6 bil.) stimulus package including an 11.8 trillion won supplementary budget to sustain the faltering economy, but concern is mounting that this will merely patch up the problem.Critics say the government should admit that the economy has entered an era of low growth and focus on structural reform and seek new growth engines instead.“It was somewhat inevitable for the government to seek fiscal stimulus through a supplementary budget,” said Lee Geun-tae, an economist at LG Economic Research Institute, pointing out how the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) damaged consumption.With some economic think tanks estimating that the economic loss from the outbreak could amount to 20 trillion won, the government set the fiscal package which it hopes will pull up the economic growth rate by 0.3 percentage points, helping the country achieve the 3.1 percent economic growth rate predicted by the government.The economist, however, stressed that the supplementary budget should not aim to achie

Jul 9, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

FKI expects economy to grow 2.9 pct.

By Yoon Ja-youngThe country’s economy will grow 2.9 percent this year amid sluggish exports and external risks, according to the Federation of Korean Industries Tuesday. The outlook for the second half of the year is pessimistic for electronics, automobiles and steel, the country’s main export items.“The economy, which was already experiencing difficulties due to sluggish domestic consumption and exports, has been hit by the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS),” said FKI Secretary General Park Chan-ho, at a seminar organized by the chaebol lobby group.“With external risks such as the U.S. key interest rate hike, the Greek economy and the weak Japanese yen expected to dampen Korean exporters’ competitive edge and corporate sentiment, it is crucial to boost sentiment of all the economic players,” he added.At the seminar, Kim Do-hoon, president of Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, expected the economy to have a 2.9 percent growth rate this year, citing sluggish exports as the main hurdle.He explained that downside

Jul 7, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Korean women burdened with house chores

By Yoon Ja-young Korean women get married when they are on average 29.8 years old, and give birth to an average of 1.21 children. Half of them drink, while only 3.3 percent smoke. They are especially dissatisfied with how house chores are shared with their spouses.These are part of statistics on the lives of Korean women, released Thursday.According to data by Statistics Korea, there are 25.32 million women in Korea, outnumbering the 25.30 million men.Korean women are on average 29.8 years old when they get married for the first time, while their bridegrooms are 32.4. When Korean women get married for the second time, they are 43 years old on average while their grooms are 47.1 years old.Married Korean women spend more than four hours doing house chores daily.Life seems to be tougher for working women who are married. While they spent 2 hours and 47 minutes less than housewives doing chores at home, they work 4 hours and 47 minutes more to make a living. In total, they spent two more hours working, while having 1 hour and 48 minutes less free time than housewives.Females were un

Jul 2, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Industrial output falls for three months in a row

By Yoon Ja-young  The country’s industrial output fell for three consecutive months up to May, hindered by sluggish exports. The government said that the indices may worsen in June due to the impact of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).According to data released by Statistics Korea, Tuesday, industrial output dipped by 0.6 percent in May from the previous month.By sector, production in mining, manufacturing, gas and electricity industries was down 1.3 percent. The decrease in automobile and semiconductor production, the sectors hit hardest by the slowdown in exports, was a root cause of the overall decline.Korea saw a drop in semiconductor exports of 7.9 percent, automobile exports 3.5 percent and chemical product exports 4.3 percent.“The automobile and semiconductor exports were sluggish in May. That has negatively affected the manufacturing indices,” said Jeon Baek-geun, an official in charge of industrial statistics at Statistics Korea.Though MERS doesn’t seem to have affected consumption in May, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said

Jun 30, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Loans by moneylenders total W 11 tril.

Around 2.5 million people nationwide have borrowed more than 11 trillion won from moneylenders that levy high interest rates. Both the number of the customers and the per capita amount of the loans have increased.According to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the number of customers who borrowed money from moneylenders last year was up 0.3 percent from the previous year.Each of them borrowed 4.5 million won on average, or 11.1 percent more than the previous year.When asked for what purpose they borrowed the money, 48.3 percent said for living expenses while 31.4 percent cited business investment.Over half of the customers were salaried workers, while 26.2 percent were self-employed. The ratio of housewives also stood at 8 percent.Most of them had poor credit ratings, with 77.1 percent of the customers in the bottom 40 percent in ratings lists.The FSC said that only big moneylenders are surviving in the market ― their number decreased by 6.8 percent last year to 8,694, while the total balance of loans increased 11.4 percent to 11.2 trillion won. Of the 11.2 trillion won, 6

Jun 30, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Koreans go to bed after 11 p.m.

By Yoon Ja-young Koreans go to bed after 11 p.m., and sleep for 7 hours and 59 minutes per night.They spent less than 40 minutes for each meal, and more than 2 hours for house chores every day.According to data released by Statistics Korea Monday, on average Koreans sleep 9 minutes longer than they did five years ago.They go to bed at around 11:24 p.m. on weekdays, and at 11:29 on Saturday nights.They get up at 6:34 a.m. on weekdays, and at 7:15 a.m. on Sundays.Koreans spend 1 hour and 56 minutes for meals each day, or 11 minutes more than five years ago. On average, they have breakfast at 7:43 a.m., lunch at 12:32 p.m., and dinner at 7:09 p.m.Korean adults are spending 2 hours and 4 minutes a day on weekdays doing house chores. However, there was huge difference between men and women _ while men spent only 47 minutes doing house chores, women dedicated 3 hours and 28 minutes.The data also showed how much Korean students are studying. In case of high school students, they spend 8 hours and 21 minutes studying at school, and 1 hour and 52 minutes studying outside the school. Midd

Jun 29, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Korea is 5th largest shareholder of AIIB

By Yoon Ja-youngStrategy and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan signs the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Articles of Agreement on behalf of the Korean government at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Monday./ YonhapKorea is the fifth largest shareholder of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with a 3.81 percent stake and a 3.5 percent voting bloc.Strategy and Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan signed the AIIB Articles of Agreement with other founding member countries in Beijing, Monday, to launch the multilateral development bank aimed at promoting economic and social development in Asia and creating wealth by supporting the region with infrastructure investment.According to the agreement signed by 57 founding members, the bank will have a paid-in capital of $20 bil. and total authorized capital of $100 bil.Among the 37 Asian member countries, Korea is the fourth largest shareholder. Its stake is bigger than the stakes it has in the World Bank and Inter American Development Bank. It also succeeded in getting bigger stake tha

Jun 29, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Small investors losing on bourse as usual

By Yoon Ja-youngIt is no secret that small investors perform poorly in the stock market. Data shows that this year is no exception despite rising stock indices.According to the Korea Exchange, the country’s stock market operator, the price of the five stocks small investors bought most fell on average 20.5 percent this year.   Hyundai Motors, for instance, which small investors bought most this year, saw its price fall 20.1 percent to 135,000 won from 169,000 won.POSCO, the next stock on the list, fell 19.9 percent, and LG Electronics, the third most-preferred stock, lost 15.7 percent. LG Display and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, also among the small investors’ top-five picks, fell more than 20 percent.  The top-five picks of institutional investors rose, on average, 21.8 percent this year. Though Hyundai Glovis, which they bought most, fell 32.1 percent from earlier this year, their second-best pick, Shinsegae, rose 52.6 percent. SK Innovation, the third stock they bought most, gained 51.2 percent. Their fourth-best pick, SK, rose 23.6 percen

Jun 28, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Economy

Shinhan Investment debit card in spotlight

The Shinhan Investment Corp. debit card is drawing subscriptions thanks to the high interest rate it offers. / Courtesy of Shinhan Investment Corp.By Yoon Ja-youngThe historically low interest rate has prompted many to turn their eyes to cash management accounts (CMAs) at securities companies from traditional bank accounts. Debit cards, also known as check cards, are seeing the transition, with customers finding check cards issued by securities companies more attractive than those issued by banks.The “CMA R+ Check Card” by Shinhan Investment Corp., for instance, has received more than 15,000 subscriptions in only three months since its launch, and is getting, on average, 240 new subscriptions a day.The strength of the CMA R+ Check Card comes from the fact that it offers more benefits than credit cards. As the government encourages using debit cards instead of credit cards, check card users get a higher tax deduction at the year-end tax settlement. Shinhan also offers its check card subscribers diverse benefits such as discounts at some restaurants and coffee chains, or bo

Jun 28, 2015By Yoon Ja-young

Yoon Ja-young

Read more

KRX to cancel 'fat finger' trading errors

'Reform more crucial than extra budget'

FKI expects economy to grow 2.9 pct.

Korean women burdened with house chores

Industrial output falls for three months in a row

Loans by moneylenders total W 11 tril.

Koreans go to bed after 11 p.m.

Korea is 5th largest shareholder of AIIB

Small investors losing on bourse as usual

Shinhan Investment debit card in spotlight

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