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  • Economy

    Expected BOK rate hike prompts concern over rising interest burdens on households, firms

    Expectations of imminent interest rate hikes by the Bank of Korea (BOK) are adding to pressure on households and businesses already struggling with rising borrowing costs, analysts said Sunday. Lending rates at major banks have continued to climb as BOK Gov. Shin Hyun-song struck a hawkish tone following a Monetary Policy Board meeting on May 28, reinforcing market expectations that the central bank could begin raising rates as early as July. According to banking industry data, fixed-rate mortgage loans offered by the country's five major lenders — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH NongHyup — carried interest rates ranging from 4.39 percent to 7.33 percent as of Friday. The upper end of the range was up 0.33 percentage point from a month earlier, when rates stood between 4.4 percent and 7 percent. It marked the first time since October 2022 that the highest fixed mortgage rate among the five major lenders exceeded 7.3 percent. Personal credit loan rates have also moved higher. As of Friday, interest rates on personal credit loans for top-tier borrowers with one-year maturities ra

    2 MIN READBy Lee Hyo-jin
    Expected BOK rate hike prompts concern over rising interest burdens on households, firms
  • Policy

    Top policymakers vow stern action against speculative FX market activities as won weakens

    2 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Top policymakers vow stern action against speculative FX market activities as won weakens
  • Cryptocurrency

    Bithumb's bitcoin payout blunder results in $1.6 mil. compensation

    2 MIN READBy Lee Hyo-jin
    Bithumb's bitcoin payout blunder results in $1.6 mil. compensation
  • Economy

    S. Korean retail investors sell over $641 bil. in overseas stocks in 1st week of June

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    S. Korean retail investors sell over $641 bil. in overseas stocks in 1st week of June
  • Economy

    Seoul stocks, won hammered by massive foreign selling

    2 MIN READBy Park Han-sol
    Seoul stocks, won hammered by massive foreign selling
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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

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Economy

Former vice finance minister criticizes Koreans for buying dollars

Hashed Open Research CEO Kim Yong-beom / YonhapWon-dollar exchange rate ends at 1,421.5 in Tuesday's tradeBy Anna J. Park A former vice finance minister criticized Korean citizens and investors who hoard U.S. dollars as they speculatively bet on the U.S. currency.“Who do you think are those who most aggressively buy U.S. dollars now? It's the Korean people. The Korean people, who tried to save the country by donating their gold during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, are now busy hoarding dollars at a more aggressive rate than foreign investors who leave the Korean stock market,” Hashed Open Research CEO Kim Yong-beom, who served as the country's first vice finance minister from 2019 to 2021, wrote on his Facebook page.He went on to say that while investing in a foreign currency is not something that should be criticized, the government should regulate the local foreign exchange market to prevent unlimited speculative moves that exploit the weakness of the Korean won against the dollar. “At this significant juncture where psychological sentiment is more important

Sep 28, 2022By Anna J. Park
Former vice finance minister criticizes Koreans for buying dollars
Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies feared to experience longer winter amid Fed's hawkish moves

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Min-hyungCryptocurrencies are feared to remain in the doldrums even after the end of this year amid the U.S. Federal Reserve's gestures to remain hawkish and for longer than expected.The price of Bitcoin has been trapped in a band of around $20,000 during the past three months without showing any particular signs of a rebound. But earlier hopes were that the crypto winter would not last long, as the Fed and global central banks were forecast to end monetary tightening soon.But the timeline is expected to be delayed further after the Fed conducted its third straight giant step of increasing the key rate by 75 basis points this month again.Other indicators ― such as the dollar and stock indices ― also clearly show investors' preference for safer assets are solidifying further. The Korean currency closed Thursday at 1,431.3 won per dollar, which was the weakest level seen in more than 13 years. The main bourse also tumbled to around 2,200-point mark on escalating skepticism over near-term rebound of risky assets.Ethereum prices are also hovering below $2,000 after

Sep 27, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Cryptocurrencies feared to experience longer winter amid Fed's hawkish moves
Economy

Korea hosts 10th gathering of finance ministries in Asia-Pacific region

Members of the Public Expenditure Management Network in Asia (PEMNA), a peer-learning network among financial bureaucrats from 11 countries, listen to Second Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-dae deliver a welcoming speech on the opening day of the 2022 PEMNA gathering at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in central Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Economy and FinanceBy Yi Whan-wooKorea is hosting the 10th gathering of finance ministry officials in the Asia-Pacific region this week, with this year's topics focused on improving and sustaining fiscal health in the coming post-pandemic era.The 2022 gathering of the Public Expenditure Management Network in Asia (PEMNA), a peer-learning network of financial bureaucrats specialized in public expenditure management, is taking place in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic.Co-launched in 2012 by the Korean finance ministry and the World Bank, PEMNA has 11 member nations, including Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.The meeting, which started on Tu

Sep 27, 2022By Yi Whan-woo
Korea hosts 10th gathering of finance ministries in Asia-Pacific region
Economy

Brokerages earn $16.5 mil. in short selling fees in H1: data

Investors take a look at an electronic signboard showing ups and downs of stock prices at one local brokerage in Seoul in this undated file photo. Korea Time fileBrokerages in Korea raked in a combined 23.61 billion won ($16.5 million) in fees from handling stock short selling in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday. The amount compared with 29.28 billion won they earned from short selling-related fees throughout last year, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.The Seoul branch of Morgan Stanley earned the largest amount at 6.44 billion won, while the Seoul office of Credit Suisse brought in 3.15 billion won in short selling fees, the data showed. JPMorgan's Seoul office earned 2.99 billion won worth of fees during the cited period.In the first half, short selling transactions came to 58.46 trillion won, with foreigners accounting for 72.1 percent. Institutional investors made up 25.9 percent, while retail investors took up a mere 2 percent, the data showed.Short selling is a trading technique in which investors sell stocks they borrowed on expectat

Sep 27, 2022
Brokerages earn $16.5 mil. in short selling fees in H1: data
Economy

Inflation expectations fall for second consecutive month in Sept.: BOK data

A citizen shops for groceries at a discount store chain in Seoul, Sept. 25. YonhapKorea's inflation expectations declined for a second straight month in September amid falling oil prices, a central bank survey showed Monday. Ordinary people expected consumer prices will grow 4.2 percent over the next year, down 0.1 percentage point from 4.3 percent of the previous month, according to the poll conducted by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The inflation expectations index have shown a gradual decline since July, when the monthly figure peaked at an all-time high of 4.7 percent. Data on expected inflation is closely monitored, as a rise could prompt people to demand wage hikes due to expectations that their real purchasing power will decline. "Despite monetary policy tightening in major economies and the growing economic uncertainties, inflation has slowed with falling oil prices overseas and the growing employment and consumption in the service sector (at home)," said Hwang Hee-jin, a senior official at the BOK's statistics research team.The BOK's data also revealed that the composite consumer

Sep 27, 2022
Inflation expectations fall for second consecutive month in Sept.: BOK data
Economy

OECD cuts South Korea's 2023 growth outlook to 2.2 percent

This photo taken Sept. 13, 2022, shows stacks of containers at a port in South Korea's southeastern city of Busan. YonhapThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Monday lowered its outlook for South Korea's growth for next year, citing uncertainties in the global economy. In its interim report on next year's world economy, the Paris-based organization said South Korea's gross domestic product is expected to grow 2.2 percent in 2023, 0.3 percentage point lower than its previous forecast of 2.5 percent. The estimate is lower than the Seoul government's forecast of 2.5 percent and the Asian Development Bank's outlook of 2.3 percent, but higher than 2.1 percent projected by the Bank of Korea and the International Monetary Fund.The OECD revised down its 2023 forecast for world economic growth from 2.8 percent to 2.2 percent. Hit by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the continuing impact of COVID-19 outbreaks in some parts of the world, global GDP stagnated in the second quarter of 2022 and output declined in the Group of 20 economies, the OECD said, "A number of

Sep 26, 2022
OECD cuts South Korea's 2023 growth outlook to 2.2 percent
Economy

Korean stocks, currency slide amid fears of inflation, recession

An electronic board set up at Hana Bank's dealing room in Seoul shows the stock market falling and the local currency weakening against the dollar, Monday. YonhapBy Lee Min-hyungKorean stocks and the local currency fell sharply amid heightened fears of inflation and a recession following the U.S. Federal Reserve's third straight “giant step” rate hike of 75 basis points last week. The benchmark KOSPI closed at 2,220.94, Monday, down 3.02 percent from the previous session. The tech-heavy Kosdaq reported a bigger loss of 5.07 percent and failed to defend the 700-point mark for the first time in more than two years. The secondary market closed at 692.37.The stock fall was attributable to escalating jitters after the Fed took another giant step.The won also weakened to the lowest level since 2009. The Korean currency closed at 1,431.3 won per dollar on Monday, up 22 won from the previous session.In response, Bank of Korea (BOK) Governor Rhee Chang-yong said there is the possibility of signing a currency swap agreement with the Fed.“We are exchanging information (on the

Sep 26, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Korean stocks, currency slide amid fears of inflation, recession
Cryptocurrency

Hedera eyes more partnerships with Korean banks, tech firms

A promotional image for LG Art Lab / Courtesy of Barry X Ball StudioBy Lee Min-hyungBUSAN ― Hedera Hashgraph, a distributed ledger technology network, will expand its partnerships with Korean tech players and financial firms by leveraging its fixed low costs and decentralized tracking and verification system, Leemon Baird, its inventor and co-CEO of Swirlds Labs, said in an interview.Hedera is a public cryptocurrency network platform for enterprises to create decentralized applications. Two major Korean firms ― LG Electronics and Shinhan Bank ― have teamed up with the Texas-headquartered company in their bid to catch up with the rapidly growing blockchain industrial paradigm. Hashgraphs are often considered an alternative to blockchains, and Hedera Hashgraph is the only authorized ledger. Despite the promising outlook of the Hedera network, it was less-well-known in the Korean market before its latest partnership with LG Electronics. Earlier this month, LG unveiled a non-fungible token (NFT) art-trading platform in the United States, allowing LG television owners who buy NFTs on its

Sep 26, 2022By Lee Min-hyung
Hedera eyes more partnerships with Korean banks, tech firms
Cryptocurrency

Interpol red notice issued for wanted founder of Terraform

Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon / Courtesy of CoinageThe International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has issued a red notice for Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs accused of fraud following the massive collapse of the firm's cryptocurrencies in May, officials said Monday. The blockchain firm has been under investigation for alleged fraud and tax evasion after investors in its cryptocurrencies ― TerraUSD and Luna ― filed complaints against Kwon in May, accusing him of carrying out a Ponzi scheme over the loss of billions of won following the crash of both coins earlier that month.The Interpol red notice has been issued after the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office in charge of the case requested the organization's assistance to trace the whereabouts of Kwon, prosecution officials said.Interpol red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.In mid-September, the prosecutors office had court arrest warrants issued for Kwon and five others ― including Terraform f

Sep 26, 2022
Interpol red notice issued for wanted founder of Terraform
Economy

Inflation to stabilize at slow pace due to won's weakness: BOK chief

This photo shows a citizen shopping for instant noodle at a retail outlet in Seoul, Sept. 23. YonhapKorea's consumer prices are likely to peak in October, but they may stabilize at a slow pace due to the local currency's sharp weakness against the U.S. dollar, the chief of the central bank said Monday.The Bank of Korea (BOK) is also exchanging information on dollar liquidity conditions with the U.S. Federal Reserve amid market expectations of the possible opening of a currency swap line between the two central banks, BOK Gov. Rhee Chang-yong told a parliamentary committee meeting.The BOK chief said consumer inflation is expected to stay in the 5-6 percent for a considerable period of time, stressing the need to prioritize keeping price stability."The impact of the won's sharp weakness on inflation has offset that of falling oil prices. Inflation is likely to peak in October, but what's more worrisome is that the falling pace of consumer prices is likely to be very slow," Rhee said.He said the Fed's latest decision to raise its policy rate by 75 basis points for a third time has chang

Sep 26, 2022
Inflation to stabilize at slow pace due to won's weakness: BOK chief
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