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    Labor unions seek 16.3% minimum wage hike, employers push for freeze

    Labor and management began a fierce tug-of-war over next year's minimum wage Tuesday, with labor representatives seeking an increase of more than 16 percent and management representatives pushing for a freeze. The stark differences between the two sides are expected to complicate discussions in the coming months. The Minimum Wage Commission held its eighth plenary meeting at Government Complex Sejong, kicking off deliberations on next year's minimum wage, with labor and management representatives presenting their respective proposals. The commission consists of 27 members — nine representatives each from labor, management and the public interest sector. Ahead of formal negotiations, labor representatives submitted an opening proposal calling for the hourly minimum wage to be raised to 12,000 won ($7.8), up 16.3 percent from the current 10,320 won. “The minimum wage plays a critical role in protecting low-income workers and reflects the level of social equity in the country,” the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the nation’s two larges

    2 MIN READBy Jun Ji-hye
    Labor unions seek 16.3% minimum wage hike, employers push for freeze
  • Economy

    Korean won slumps against US dollar on expectations of Fed rate hike

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Korean won slumps against US dollar on expectations of Fed rate hike
  • Others

    Foreign sell-off in Samsung Electronics, SK hynix drags KOSPI down 10%

    2 MIN READBy Jun Ji-hye
    Foreign sell-off in Samsung Electronics, SK hynix drags KOSPI down 10%
  • Economy

    Mirae Asset likely to face fines, disciplinary action over SpaceX allocation fallout: experts

    3 MIN READBy Park Han-sol
    Mirae Asset likely to face fines, disciplinary action over SpaceX allocation fallout: experts
  • Economy

    Bourse operator issues circuit breaker for KOSPI on sharp fall

    1 MIN READBy Yonhap
    Bourse operator issues circuit breaker for KOSPI on sharp fall
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Economy

Lack of rules on cryptocurrency confuses market participants

gettyimagesbankBy Lee Kyung-minCommercial lenders and cryptocurrency exchange operators remained confused Sunday over an unclear set of revisions that require the former to essentially oversee the latter following the passage of a related bill governing digital coins.Many of them say the lack of government guidelines on anti-money laundering and risk evaluation methods could derail their current individual screening measures at any moment, given sketchy policy stances influenced by volatile public sentiment.The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), an organization in charge of anti-money laundering and combating financing terrorism under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), has yet to provide any guidelines other than: “Banks should set up evaluation criteria of their own.” This pushed the Korea Federation of Banks to come up with such measures, mostly by relying on outside consultants.According to the revisions that took effect in March, the operators should only use real-name exchange accounts approved by banks which are responsible for a comprehensive evaluati

May 2, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Lack of rules on cryptocurrency confuses market participants
Economy

Retail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Electronics surpasses 10%

A Samsung Group flag and Korean national flag flutter at the company's office in Seoul, April 28. Retail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Electronics surpassed 10 percent for the first time, data showed Sunday. APRetail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Electronics, Korea's most valuable company, surpassed 10 percent for the first time as they went bargain hunting for its shares amid the COVID-19 pandemic last year, industry data showed Sunday. Individual investors owned a total of 65.3 million common shares of Samsung Electronics as of Friday, accounting for 10.1 percent of the total, according to industry data.The world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor is valued at 486.5 trillion won ($435.3 billion) as of Friday, representing about 22 percent of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index's (KOSPI) total market capitalization. Retail investors' holdings of the company reached 6.5 percent at the end of 2020, up from 3.6 percent a year earlier.They bought a net 18.4 trillion won in the first four months of this year, purchasing 3.6 percent of shares in the company to r

May 2, 2021
Retail investors' stock ownership in Samsung Electronics surpasses 10%
Economy

Korea to partially lift ban on short selling after 14 months

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's financial regulator is set to partially lift its ban on short selling of listed stocks this week, about 14 months after it imposed it to cope with a stock market rout triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting Monday, the ban on 200 large-cap firms listed on the main KOSPI and 150 firms listed on the secondary KOSDAQ will be lifted, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said. A total of 917 stocks are listed on the KOSPI, and 1,470 stocks are listed on the KOSDAQ. A ban on short selling on the remaining 717 stocks on the KOSPI and the remaining 1,320 stocks on the KOSDAQ will continue to be in place, the FSC said. Stock short selling is a trading strategy in which investors sell stocks they borrowed on the belief that share prices will fall in the near future. When prices fall, they can buy back the stocks at lower prices, pocket the profit and return the shares to the original owner. Increased short selling typically indicates that many investors anticipate a slump in stock prices.Since early last month, South Korea has toughened punishments against

May 2, 2021
Korea to partially lift ban on short selling after 14 months
Economy

Warren Buffett warns investors not to gamble on stocks

In this May 4, 2019, file photo, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. On Saturday, Buffett warned people not to think investing is an easy way to make a fortune as he answered questions at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting. ReutersBillionaire Warren Buffett warned people not to think investing is an easy way to make a fortune as he answered questions at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting Saturday.Buffett said it can be tough to pick the long-term winners. He pointed out that in 1903 there were more than 2,000 car companies, and nearly all of them failed even though cars have transformed the country since then.``There's a lot more to picking stocks than figuring out what will be an incredible industry in the future,'' Buffett said. ``I just want to tell you that it's not as easy as it sounds.''Buffett has said that most people will fare better by owning an SP 500 index fund instead of betting on individual stock

May 2, 2021
Warren Buffett warns investors not to gamble on stocks
Economy

Exports up for 6th month on upbeat shipments of chips, cars

South Korea's exports jumped 41.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the highest growth in around 10 years, as demand for semiconductors and automobiles stayed strong amid the improving global economy, data showed Saturday. gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's exports jumped 41.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the highest growth in around 10 years, as demand for semiconductors and automobiles stayed strong amid the improving global economy, data showed Saturday.Outbound shipments were worth US$51.1 billion last month, compared with $36.2 billion a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.It marked the sharpest year-on-year monthly growth since January 2011.Imports rose 33.9 percent to $50.8 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $390 million, the 12th consecutive month for the country to post a surplus.The latest figures were in line with market estimates. According to a poll by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, the country's exports in April were expected to have risen 40.8 percent from the same month last

May 1, 2021
Exports up for 6th month on upbeat shipments of chips, cars
Economy

Public firms' debt hits record high in 2020

Korea Electric Power Corp. headquarters in Naju, South Jeolla Province / YonhapSouth Korean public firms' liabilities rose for the third straight year last year to hit a record high as they increased investment amid the pandemic, the finance ministry said Friday.Of 350 state-run companies, the combined debt of 347 firms reached 544.8 trillion won ($491.5 billion) at the end of last year, up 17.9 trillion won from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.It marked the highest total for liabilities since 2005 when the government began compiling related data.Their combined assets grew 41.6 trillion won on-year to 902.4 trillion won.Despite the continued rise in liabilities, their financial soundness improved last year as capital grew at a faster pace than debt on improving earnings, the ministry said.The debt-to-capital ratio, a key gauge of financial soundness, came to 152.4 percent last year, down 5.4 percentage points from a year earlier.The public firms posted a combined net profit of 5.3 trillion won last year, up 4.5 trillion won from 2019 as major firms

Apr 30, 2021
Public firms' debt hits record high in 2020
Economy

Foreign asset managers downsizing Korean operations

gettyimagesbankCiti's planned exit mentioned as another reason for exodusBy Park Jae-hyukA growing number of foreign asset management companies are pulling their retail fund businesses out of Korea, despite the government's continuous efforts to foster an international financial hub here by attracting global firms.The pullouts are mainly attributed to the lingering slowdown in the domestic public offering fund market following the popularity of direct investments and exchange traded funds (ETFs) among retail investors here.“The shrinkage of the public offering fund market can be seen as a reason for this phenomenon,” Korea Capital Market Institute research fellow Kwon Min-kyeong said. “The slowdown is not expected to be resolved in a short period of time.”The latest example of a foreign asset manager trying to downsize its Korean operation is Franklin Templeton Investments, which had sought to merge with Samsung Active Asset Management in 2019 and sell its assets under management to Kiwoom Asset Management in 2020.The U.S. firm's local subsidiary said it is in

Apr 30, 2021By Park Jae-hyuk
Foreign asset managers downsizing Korean operations
Economy

Deloitte-Kyobo feud escalates in local court

The headquarters of Kyobo Life Insurance in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. / Korea Times fileBy Lee Kyung-min Deloitte Anjin officials denied charges, last week, that it had exercised discretion to help inflate the value of put options to be sold by Affinity Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm (PEF), saying prosecutors' claims lacked the logic to indict its accountants.This is the latest development in the years-long dispute between Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae and the company's financial investors represented by a consortium led by the Hong Kong-based PEF. The dispute is over whether the consortium can exercise a put option at nearly double the price Shin was willing to pay. A put option is a contract giving the owner the right to sell _ or sell short _ a specified amount of an underlying security at a predetermined price within a specified time frame.During the hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court, last week, an attorney representing the accountants said the prosecution failed to identify how the indicted officials violated related laws in apprai

Apr 30, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Deloitte-Kyobo feud escalates in local court
Economy

Gov't to tighten lending rules to curb household debt

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki speaks during a meeting with top financial regulators at the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank). YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min The government decided Thursday to tighten lending rules in stages to slow down the pace of household debt growth, which is expected to hit 6 percent this year and 4 percent in 2022, levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic started.Through the measure, the government seeks to rein in the steep increase in borrowing over the past year amid the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic, as the economy shows clear signs of a rebound with the prospect of herd immunity being achieved sooner.Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said a new regulation, called the debt-service ratio (DSR), will be applied to better manage the debt increase.DSR is measured by the borrower's annual income divided by the principal and interest on all household loans. It is more stringent than the debt-to-income (DTI) ratio which factors in only interest payments on loans, with mortgage principal being the only principa

Apr 29, 2021By Lee Kyung-min
Gov't to tighten lending rules to curb household debt
Economy

S&P upgrades Mirae Asset credit rating on stable portfolio, risk management expertise

Mirae Asset Financial Group headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Mirae Asset Financial GroupBy Lee Min-hyungS&P Global Ratings has revised up Mirae Asset Securities' credit rating on the company's stable business portfolio and strong risk management capabilities. In a recent statement, the global ratings firm upgraded the outlook for the Seoul-based brokerage house to “stable” from negative.“S&P revised the outlook on Mirae Asset in view of the company's narrowing capital buffers due to a potential increase in equity investments, higher market risks and lower profits,” S&P said in the statement.Mirae Asset Securities is Korea's largest securities firm, with its equity capital exceeding 9 trillion won ($8.12 billion) as of the end of 2020. The company also achieved a record operating profit of more than 1 trillion won last year. This marked the first time that the nation's securities company exceeded the symbolic figure in annual earnings.The ratings agency also maintained Mirae Asset's BBB long-term and A-2 short-term issuer ratings in the recent an

Apr 29, 2021By Lee Min-hyung
S&P upgrades Mirae Asset credit rating on stable portfolio, risk management expertise
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