Korea

Industry urged to revamp governance and put determined effort on overseas expansion.

As external debt declined to 59% in March of this year, the lowest level in a decade.

But DBS expects the BOK to raise the repo rate by 25bps in 4Q before taking it to 4% in 1H12.

Standard Chartered First Bank resumed operations of five of its 42 branches that were temporarily closed due to a labor strike over its salary system, reports Yonhap News.

RBS Seoul was found brokering transactions between its London headquarters and a local asset manager worth 60 million U.S. dollars without a required license between Feb. 22 and March 11.

Dormant credit cards, now about one fourth of the total issued, is on the rise in South Korea due to excessive issuances.

The loan delinquency ration of South Korean banks was up in July on account of seasonal factors, according to the Financial Supervisory Service . The rate of bad loans against the total bank loans to companies and households is at 1.13 percent at the end of July. Ths figure is up by 0.16 percentage points from the 0.97 percent tallied in the previous month. The delinquency ratio tends to decrease in June when local banks clean up their balance sheets at quarter-end, according to the FSS. The delinquency ratio of banks' corporate lending rose sharply in July due to the assessment of credit risks of local companies. The default rate of corporate loans came in at 1.44 percent in July, up 0.25 percentage points from a month earlier, with the corresponding rates for large corporations and small- and mid- sized firms advancing by 0.15 percentage points and 0.28 percentage points over the cited period respectively. The delinquency ratio of banks' household lending rose 0.05 percentage points on-month to 0.77 percent as of the end of July, according to the statement. The default rate for home-backed loans, which account for most of The full story is available at Xinhua News.

About 2,500 unionised workers stopped work June 27, saying that the new system was just aimed at cutting labour costs.

The capital adequacy ratio of South Korean banks edged up in the second quarter on account of solid earnings.

The labor union at SC First Bank said will continue  to oppose the bank's move to adopt a merit pay system.

None of the major banks participated in the latest bidding process presumably because of the huge KRW9.3 trillion funding requirement.  

The sale of Woori Finance Holdings Co. for a minimum of 30% stake fell through again as it attracted only one investor.

Yet the state-run lender stressed that it has no exposure to the region’s sovereign bonds.

Goldman Sachs and Canada Pension Plan joined MBK in its attempt to seal South Korea’s biggest banking privatization deal.

South Korea's prosecution will speed up the repatriation from Canada of a key lobbyist for Busan Savings Bank to probe his role in a massive influence-peddling scandal.

South Korea will conduct daily checks on local banks' foreign currency levels to stave off a liquidity crunch amid rising market volatility.