South Korea’s three internet-only banks so far amassed 30 million combined users

South Korea’s top court on Thursday cleared Shinhan Financial Group Chairman Cho Yong-byoung of unethical hiring charges, putting an end to a four-year legal battle and allowing a possible third term for Cho. The Supreme Court upheld the Seoul High Court’s decision in November last year to side with Cho on allegations that he had exercised his influence by accepting hiring requests from lawmakers and company executives to recruit their children from 2013 to 2016 while he was CEO of

KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s top lender said Wednesday that it will join other financial institutions in a $6.6 billion syndicated loan package to finance the John F. Kennedy International Airport’s Terminal One redevelopment project in New York. KB Kookmin will contribute $300 million of the $6.6 billion loan, alongside Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Dutch financial giant ING Bank. KB said the airport renovation financing project

Demand for an unprecedented "big-step" rate hike among policymakers of the Bank of Korea (BOK) will likely intensify ahead of an upcoming rate-setting meeting should the country's consumer prices in June rise 6 percent or higher, a high-ranking central bank official has said. The outlook comes amid growing speculation the BOK could lean more toward the possibility of an unprecedented 0.5 percentage-point hike in borrowing costs when monetary policy board members gather on July 13

The official commemorative coins issued by the Qatar Central Bank to celebrate the 2022 Qatar World Cup were showcased in Seoul on the sidelines of a ceremony held to launch limited edition medals to commemorate the Korea-Japan World Cup held 20 years ago. A set of 24 gold and silver legal tender coins were released by the Middle Eastern country last month as part of FIFA‘s Official Host Country Coin Program, in collaboration with MDM Deutsche Muenzhandelsgesellschaft, FIFA’s officia

Special limited edition medals and banknotes to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, went on sale Monday. Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation (KOMSCO) said the commemorative items were made to wish the South Korean national football team good luck on the upcoming 2022 Qatar World Cup, while serving as a reminder of the national unity Korea experienced during the 2002 tournament. The “FIFA World

Standard Chartered Bank Korea is offering a special interest rate of up to 1.9 percent per annum, before tax, to new customers opening a checking account by the end of this month. Account holders are eligible for the special rate up to 60 days from opening the account, as long as they keep the balance between 100 million won ($77,200) and 2 billion won. The rate is adjusted each day depending on the balance at the end of day. Once new deposits reach 200 billion won, the special offer will ex

South Korean retail and finance company, TGS Holdings, said Thursday that it has produced a TV commercial featuring former professional Go master Lee Se-dol last month. Lee Se-dol, who competed with Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in 2016 during the peak of his career, signed a contract to become the face of TGS in Novermber 2021. The newly produced commercial introduces TGS’s new smart currency called C-Cash. It is the world‘s first hybrid smart currency t

The Asian Forest Cooperation Organization (AFoCO) said it has signed an agreement with Woori Financial Group to cooperate for climate control through sustainable forest management and environmental, social and corporate governance. The AFoCO is an international organization established upon Seoul’s proposal at the 2009 special summit between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Through a public-private platform known as the AFoCO green partnership, AFoCO offers bus

South Korea's currency on Thursday fell below the 1,300-won level against the US dollar for the first time in about 13 years amid growing concerns about global monetary tightening and an economic recession. The Korean currency was trading at 1,300.70 won against the dollar as of 9:52 a.m., down 3.40 won from the previous session. It marked the first time that the won has fallen through the 1,300-won level since July 14, 2009, in intraday trading. Market volatility has recently heightened ov

South Korea's producer prices grew for the fifth straight month in May, driven by rising prices of coal, oil and services, central bank data showed Thursday. The producer price index, a major barometer of consumer inflation, stood at 119.24 in May, up 0.5 percent from a revised 118.59 a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). From a year earlier, the index jumped 9.7 percent, the 18th straight month of on-year rises. Energy and raw material prices rema

Citigroup’s South Korean subsidiary has said it will cooperate with local financial giant KB Kookmin Bank and the internet-only Toss Bank on transferring its unsecured personal loan portfolio worth some 8 trillion won ($6.1 billion). The move is part of Citibank Korea’s decision announced in October last year to shut down its retail banking operations in phases, after its monthslong attempt to find a buyer of the business failed. Its parent firm and US banking giant Citigroup decide

Foreign currency deposits at banks in South Korea grew in May due to increased corporate savings, central bank data showed Wednesday. Residents' outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits reached $89.17 billion as of end-May, up $2.18 billion from the previous month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Residents include local citizens, companies, foreigners staying here for more than six months and foreign firms. The data excludes interbank foreign currency deposits.

South Korea's money supply grew in April as rising interest rates led to an increase in deposits, central bank data showed Wednesday. The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 3,667.1 trillion won ($2.84 trillion) on average in April, up 8.5 trillion won, or 0.2 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). The rise followed a 0.1 percent on-month decline in March, which marked the first contraction since September 2018.

Hana Financial Group has announced a set of mid- to long-term strategic goals for 2030 as it reorganized its corporate culture and strategy departments to better prepare for future industries such as the metaverse and blockchain. For the past 11 months since June last year, some 12,000 staffers of Hana Financial took part in a bottom-up project called “New Vision” consisting of staff surveys, in-depth interviews, metaverse workshops, collecting customer opinion, outside expert inter