The FSC announced its plans for financial big data infrastructure, as part of the government’s wider efforts to promote digital economy with the use of big data. The plans include open data system by Korea Credit Information Services (KCIS); creation of a financial data exchange by Financial Security Institute (FSI); and designation of a specialized agency for financial data to ensure safe use and combination of data across sectors.

FSC Chairman Choi Jongku said data infrastructure will pave the way for further digital innovation and competition in the financial sector and a level playing field for financial companies and fintech start-ups.

Open data system

The KCIS1 will adopt an open data system called ‘CreDB’, which will be gradually open to fintech firms, financial companies and research institutions.

It will first open a sample of de-identified data - 5% of the entire DB - starting from June 2019. The data will include 2 million people’s credit information such as their bank loans, late payment records or credit card accounts. The scope of data sharing will be gradually expanded to include credit information with insurance companies and corporate credit information.

Starting from the second half of this year, CreDB will also provide universities and other educational institutions with synthetic data, a copy of original data, for research and training purposes.

CreDB will be open further in the first half of 2020 with a broader sample of customized data tailored to the user’s analysis purpose.

Financial data exchange

A data exchange will be established to facilitate data transactions among financial companies, credit rating companies, public institutions, fintech firms, research institutions and etc. Given the importance of security in data transaction, FSI2 will

1 KCIS is Korea’s public credit registry (PCR) established under the Credit Information Use and Protection Act, which collects data of 40 million people from 5,000 financial companies.
2 FSI is a financial security-specialized organization founded in 2015 to provide comprehensive financial security services including integrated Financial Security Monitoring, Computer Emergency
Response and Information Sharing, Security Vulnerabilities Analysis & Assessment, Security Policy and Technology Research, etc.

take the initiative in establishing the data brokerage system, which will be open for a test operation by the end of 2019 prior to its official launch in the first half of 2020.

Designation of a specialized data agency

A revision bill on the Credit Information Use and Protection Act, now pending in the National Assembly, mandates the FSC to designate a specialized data agency, which will take charge of ensuring safe combination of data across sectors. In conjunction with the data exchange, the specialized data agency will offer one-stop services including combining data and intermediating data transactions.