South Korea has provided over $50 billion in foreign direct investment to Vietnam, data from Vietnam’s State Capital Investment Corp. showed Monday. The accumulated FDI by South Korean businesses in one of the fastest-growing economy in Asia reached $50.6 billion, spanning 5,773 projects from 1988 to 2016. In 2016, the volume of investment from South Korea reached some $6.9 billion, a 2.53 perc...

South Korea showed the third-highest rise of household debt compared to gross domestic product on-year at the end of last year out of the 43 nations surveyed by the Bank for International Settlements, data showed Sunday. South Korea’s household debt-to-GDP ratio came to 92.8 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2016, up 4.7 percentage points compared to the previous year, according to data from t...

Housing prices in major metropolitan cities in South Korea have soared so far this month on-year, showing a stark contrast to drops in provincial regions, data showed Sunday. Busan, the second-largest city in Korea, showed an 11 percent surge in real estate prices on-year in June, the highest among cities in the nation, according to data by real estate market tracker Budongsan 114. The average ...

Emoticons on mobile messengers have pandered to young South Koreans’ taste, becoming an inseparable part of their lives. But in a nation lush with ready-made emoticon packages, which cost some 3,000 won ($2.67) per package, perceptions or reactions to them can differ between generations, sometimes causing communication issues. Bae Hyeon-ji, 27, as many others her age, has a penchant for emotico...

South Korean asset management firms saw their combined operating profit fall 14.8 percent in the first quarter on decreased commission fee income, data showed Wednesday. The combined operating profits of 175 local fund management firms came to 142.8 billion won ($127.2 million) by the end of March, down 24.9 billion won from the last quarter of 2016, according to data compiled by the Financial S...

Jonggak Station on Seoul’s Subway Line No. 1 got a second name Friday -- Standard Chartered Bank Korea Station -- the bank said Wednesday. Seoul Metro, an operator of eight subway lines in the Seoul metropolitan area, signed a three-year contract with the Seoul-based unit of the international banking giant on May 29, after the bank won a bid on May 19, according to the bank. Platform signs and ...

Woori Bank is the oldest firm listed on South Korea’s stock market, data showed Tuesday. Woori Bank, the fourth-largest commercial bank in South Korea in terms of market cap, is 118 years old, according to data from the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Securities Depository. The bank was founded in 1899 through financing by a Joseon-era emperor. It was called Daehan Cheon-il Bank the...

More major stocks on South Korea’s top bourse jumped into the 52-week high parade Monday, following the historic rally that led nearly one-fourth of its stocks to hit a peak in May. LG Electronics hit 88,900 won ($79.5), while panel maker LG Display reached 34,300 won and automatic teller machine maker Hyosung tapped 172,000 won at the highest during the Monday trade. The previous yearly high wa...

South Korea’s main stock market chalked up a fresh historic high Friday, a week after it hit 2,355.3 the previous Friday, on strong foreign buying riding on world rallies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed at 2,371.72 Friday, up 1.16 percent from previous trading day. Opening strong at 2,353.77, up 0.39 percent from Thursday’s closing at 2,344.61, the Kospi topped 2,370 for...

The Financial Supervisory Service said Friday it would seek pre-emptive measures to protect savings banks against side effects from the government’s anticipated move to lower the limit on their maximum interest rates. The FSS said in a press release that a lower ceiling for lending rates may dent savings banks’ financial health. The regulator said the stricter lending rate ceiling would pull do...

The capital adequacy ratio of banks and financial groups in South Korea improved in the first quarter of 2017 on the back of eased risk-weighted assets, data showed Wednesday. On average, based on the Bank for International Settlements, the capital requirement ratio of South Korea‘s 17 banks came to 15.14 percent, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. It inched up 0.33 percentage point...

South Korea’s tech-heavy stock market hit this year’s record high for two consecutive days, topping the 650 mark for the first time in more than seven months on Wednesday. The benchmark Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations closed at 652.04, up 0.46 percent from the previous trading day Tuesday, when it closed at 649.06. The index for the second-tier market had not surpassed 650 mark s...

Deloitte Anjin has named its new CEO Lee Jung-hee, who has been managing partner in Deloitte Tax group since 2010, the accounting firm said Wednesday. Lee will take the helm starting Thursday. The career accountant, known for his expertise as a corporate tax adviser for multinational companies, is expected to serve a 3-year term. Lee was nominated as a sole candidate for the chief executive in ...

Samsung Asset Management and Capital Group teamed up to launch Tuesday a set of retirement income funds, which they said are expected to “meet Korean retirement needs.” The RIFs mark the first pension funds in South Korea that allow retirees to withdraw money from the funds. The four types of pension schemes by the asset management arm under Korea’s largest conglomerate were based on the US fina...

Samsung C&T, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group, is expected to tighten its grip on Samsung Electronics after the handset maker finishes canceling treasury shares, raising the stock price forecast of the parent company. Oh Jin-won, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment, raised Tuesday the stock price projection of Samsung C&T from 150,000 ($133.40) won to 170,000 won, reflecting “th...