Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission met with officials from foreign financial companies on December 10 to have talks on recent political and economic situations in Korea and to assure that the Korean government has sufficient capacity to ensure stability in financial markets.

At the meeting, Chairman Kim emphasized that despite increased political uncertainties, the country’s economic issues are being managed in a consistent and stable manner with the Deputy Prime Minister leading the government’s economic team. Chairman Kim also said that the government has maintained a high level of preparedness for the implementation of market stabilization measures, and that key policy agendas, such as the soft-landing of the real estate project finance market, Corporate Value-up Program, and capital market reform initiatives, will continue to be pursued according to the previously set schedule. In this regard, Chairman Kim said that the government will make efforts to more closely communicate with foreign financial companies to provide adequate explanations about the ongoing situations and the government’s plans.

The officials from foreign financial companies attending today’s meeting expressed a view that the current political situation will not significantly affect the fundamentals of the Korean economy or have negative impact on the economy on a continuing basis. They showed expectations that as long as the current political uncertainty is resolved quickly, financial markets will also return to stability in no time. However, to help ease short-term volatility in the stock market, participants also raised a view that it is necessary for institutional investors, such as pension funds, to play a more active role in the market.

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