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 percent...

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 ...

By Lee Seung-ku ( seungku99@heraldcorp.com )

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...

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 ...

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 Nat...

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 1,30...

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...

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 f...

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 f...

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....

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...

Four people have been arrested for scamming a total 1.7 billion won ($1.3 million) out of investors who transferred money on a fake cryptocurrency exchange, South Korean police said Tuesday. The four, recently taken into police custody, are suspected of operating the fake crypto exchange that tricked investors into thinking they were actually trading coins and gold. More than 20 investors saw lo...

Terraform Labs, the Singapore-based company behind the troubled coins terraUSD and luna, had shut down its South Korean branch last year to allegedly evade paying taxes, local news reports showed Monday. Reports also found that the company technically dissolved its South Korean branch months before the shutdown was officially announced. Despite recent court documents showing the blockchain compa...

Chiefs of South Korea’s KB Financial Group and US’ Jefferies Financial Group discussed strengthening and expanding its existing partnership in the global investment banking market, the Korean banking giant said Tuesday. In a meeting with Jefferies Financial Group President Brian Friedman, KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo discussed plans to build a stronger cooperation in investment ban...