FSC promotes fintech and innovation in financial services. In order to encourage convergence and collaboration between finance and information technology, FSC launched the financial regulatory sandbox scheme in April 2019, through which more than one hundred ‘innovative financial services’ have been designated. The regulatory sandbox program allows fintechs and start-ups to test out their ideas without worrying about the regulatory impediments. In addition, Korea’s open banking system was fully launched in December 2019, opening up payment networks to both banks and fintechs through a joint network. By creating a financial data exchange platform, fostering MyData industry and opening up extensive sets of public financial data stored at major public institutions, FSC is also working to create an environment where big data and AI can play a larger role in finance. Policies intended to promote innovation also include providing tailored support to the Korean fintech firms to help them grow and scale up as global unicorns by easing regulations, expanding investment and providing assistance for overseas business expansion.
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Jul 25, 2024
- 2024 Korea Fintech Week to Kick Off on August 27
- The Financial Services Commission announced that this years global fintech expo, 2024 Korea Fintech Week, is scheduled to kick off on August 27 with major fintech businesses, financial companies, related organizations, academic institutions, and foreign governments and organizations participating at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. This years global fintech expo, the largest ever in scale, will be held for three days between August 27 and 29 under the theme of Beyond Boundaries: Fintech and AI Redefining Finance, providing visitors and participants with opportunities to share global trends on artificial intelligence (AI) and fintech innovation and gain insights on financial industrys future ecosystem. After an opening ceremony, there will be a policy information session provided by the FSC on Koreas fintech policy direction for this year and an on-site QA session with officials. Visitors will have chances to participate in eleven different seminars throughout three days, dealing with topics, such as AI and fintech, fintech investment strategy, ESG, and so on, with specific focus on AI technologies and their application. In addition, there will be ample opportunities to attract investments through investor relations (IR) and reverse IR events, which will help to promote investments for fintech firms to scale up or expand their businesses overseas. There will be a total of 85 exhibition booths organized into four different exhibition hallsfintech hall, financial hall, cooperating organization hall, and global hallshowcasing latest fintech services embracing AI technologies. During the three-day period, various consulting and networking programs will also be made available for fintech startups, entrepreneurs, and young adults seeking career opportunities in fintech. Visitors can attend and tour at free of charge. For more information please visit official expo website (https://2024.fintechweek.or.kr/). * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jul 04, 2024
- Policy Finance Support Worth KRW3.5 Trillion Planned to Promote AI Development
- The Financial Services Commission held the seventh consultative body meeting on policy finance support with related government ministries and policy financial institutions on July 4. The consultative body on policy finance support was launched at the end of 2022 to more effectively align the supply of policy finance support to national industrial strategies. At the third meeting held in June last year, authorities discussed the creation of the KRW300 billion fund to foster growth of the semiconductor ecosystem, and in December of the same year, authorities introduced plans to provide policy finance support worth KRW102 trillion-plus to the five key strategic industries. As such, major government decisions regarding the supply of policy finance support are being handled and discussed through consultative body meetings. At todays meeting, FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung delivered opening remarks where he discussed the importance of promptly identifying demands for funding on the ground and effectively matching them with the supply of policy finance support. Vice Chairman Kim said that the launching of the semiconductor ecosystem fund in the size of KRW300 billion last year helped to facilitate an expansion of the support program this year to up to KRW1.1 trillion-plus with input from governments fiscal expenditure. In this regard, the semiconductor ecosystem funds launch last year provides a good example where policy financial institutions and related ministries were able to preemptively and effectively respond to the demands on the field. Thus, Vice Chairman Kim urged authorities to continue to closely coordinate to effectively supply policy finance support to propel development of future growth sectors. Supply of Policy Finance Support as of May 2024 Until the end of May 2024, policy financial institutionsKorea Development Bank, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Korea Credit Guarantee Fundsupplied a total of KRW54.5 trillion to the five key strategic sectors. This marks a
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May 16, 2024
- 2024 Korea Fintech Week Scheduled for Aug 27-29
- The Financial Services Commission announced that this years global fintech expo, 2024 Korea Fintech Week, is scheduled to be held for three days from August 27 to August 29 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. Last year, Korea Fintech Week attracted some 11,000 visitors and provided fintech businesses with diverse opportunities to pitch new fintech business ideas and attract investments. The sixth annual fintech expo this year, which will be organized jointly with related organizations, agencies, and industry groups, will offer a venue for invigorating the fintech industry and accelerating innovation in financial services. Since the adoption and use of generative AI across different fields is taken as a key to boosting innovation and productivity these days, this years Korea Fintech Week will be held under the theme of Beyond Boundaries: Fintech and AI Redefining Finance to more closely highlight the effects of AI on the fintech and financial sectors. Exhibition halls will be prepared, inviting fintech businesses and financial companies to set up booths for promoting and demonstrating their latest and innovative financial technologies that will help to boost user convenience. A series of fintech theme-based seminars are scheduled to be made available throughout the three-day period, which will provide participants and visitors with opportunities to share global trends and insights and have in-depth discussions on diverse topics, such as the adoption and use of new AI technology, cyber and information security, ESG, insurtech, and so on. A mobile business meeting platform is planned to be introduced this year to support networking among fintech industry officials and to give chances to more effectively pitch new business ideas and secure investments. The IR Open Stage and the Networking Lounge will be operated on an expanded basis. In addition, there will be much enhanced investment promotion programs for up-and-coming fintech businesses via Korea Development B
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Apr 09, 2024
- Fintech Innovation Fund Worth KRW500 Billion Planned for 2024-2027
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with fintech businesses, venture investors, and related industry groups on April 9 and held talks on ways to promote investment and boost support for the fintech industry. FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung presided over the meeting and spoke about the importance of todays meeting in his opening remarks. Vice Chairman Kim said that a continuation of high interest rates and economic uncertainties has pushed down investments for startup businesses and the fintech industry around the world. To help improve the competitiveness of our financial industry, Vice Chairman Kim added that it is crucial to make policy efforts to revitalize the fintech industry and its investment ecosystem. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government will (a) expand the operation of fintech innovation funds to continue to make investment in promising fintech businesses, (b) upgrade the financial regulatory sandbox program, and (c) support overseas expansion of fintech businesses and expand the supply of related policy funds. As a part of the governments plan to continue to promote investment in the fintech industry, the FSC and related organizations discussed and announced a plan to set up a second batch of fintech innovation funds worth KRW500 billion for operation for four years between 2024 and 2027. The first batch of fintech innovation funds was in operation between 2020 and 2023, during which it raised a total of KRW513.3 billion and supplied KRW282.4 billion in investment to some 85 fintech startups. Thus, the size of fintech innovation funds will grow to a total of KRW1 trillion for eight years between 2020 and 2027. For creating the second batch of fintech innovation funds, big tech platform companies will newly make contributions following an agreement signed at last years Korea Fintech Week. In addition, Korea Growth Investment Corporation will support business-to-business (B2B) collaboration and partnership between fintech b
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Apr 04, 2024
- FSC Introduces a Plan for MyData 2.0 in Financial Services
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with financial MyData service providers and related organizations and announced a plan for MyData 2.0 in financial services on April 4. The measures included in the plan for MyData 2.0 have been drawn up after having a series of taskforce meetings with experts and industry groups. Since MyData in financial services first became available in January 2022, there are now 69 MyData service providers with more than 117.8 million subscribers in cumulative terms (as of the end of February 2024). With its successful launch and widespread usage, MyData in financial services has become a crucial part of everyday life for consumers, boosting convenience and improving access to financial services. However, during the past two years of operation, suggestions have been raised to improve service usability. Thus, the FSC has drawn up a plan for MyData 2.0 in financial services, taking into account these suggestions and opinions from users, with aims to expand data availability, promote usage, boost user convenience, and ensure data protection. First, the service availability will be expanded to the digitally vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and individuals with visual impairment. For these individuals, visiting bank branches to apply for and use MyData service on-site will be made possible. In addition, teens aged 14 year-old or older will be able to sign up for financial MyData services without having to present consent from a parent or legal guardian. Second, more detailed information about consumers spending records and payment history, including names of sellers, purchased items, and so on, will be made available to MyData service providers to help them better analyze each individual consumers spending pattern for the provision of more individually tailored asset management service. In addition, the scope of data opened up for financial MyData service will be expanded to include data from the public sector MyData service. T
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Feb 21, 2024
- FSC Announces a Plan to Expand Open Banking Services
- Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission held a meeting with officials from relevant organizations and industry groups on February 21 to discuss ways to improve infrastructures for financial innovation and announced a plan to expand open banking service. In his opening remarks, Vice Chairman Kim said that the two major infrastructures open banking and MyData systems - introduced to promote digital innovation in the financial sector have made accomplishments in improving convenience for financial consumers and enabling innovative financial services. The open banking service, introduced in December 2019, has become an essential payment infrastructure for enabling various fintech solutions in payment, money transfer, wealth management and cross-border payment, etc. by prompting financial companies to open up their closed payment networks. The API-based MyData service, introduced in January 2022, has also allowed financial consumers to make account inquiry with ease and exercise more control over their own data, paving the way for the availability of innovative financial services including online platforms for switching loans or comparison and recommendation services of insurance products. Building on the achievements, Vice Chairman Kim outlined policy directions for further improvements in open banking and MyData services and announced a plan to expand the open banking service. Under the plan, first, the FSC seeks to expand the scope of data available in open banking from personal accounts to business accounts so that companies can make account inquiry across different banks in real time at once. With business account data available in open banking services, financial companies will be able to use such data including account balances and transaction record to launch new services in fund management for their corporate clients. Second, open banking service, currently available online only, will be provided through offline channels such as bank branc
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Jan 26, 2024
- FSC Holds 1st Fintech Open Networking Day
- The Financial Services Commission held the first Fintech Open Networking Day on January 26 with fintech businesses, financial companies and investment firms joining along with related organizations. The event was organized to support networking between fintech businesses, financial companies and investment firms in a more systematic way with the need to expand business-to-business (B2B) collaboration with financial companies and facilitate investment through venture capital. The event also offered one-on-one mentoring and other networking and consulting opportunities to early-stage fintech businesses, which may face difficulties and lack experience in dealing with regulatory issues, expanding their businesses overseas or securing investment. During the event, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by ten financial holding companies, banks and fintech industry groups and agreed on fostering a more cooperative business environment, expanding support for fintech incubation, investment and overseas expansion, and holding more fintech-focused advertisement and investment activities. At the event, a total of seven financial companies and four investment firms made presentations on the potential areas of collaboration and investment strategies based on each organizations strength. FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung attended the event and delivered congratulatory remarks highlighting the importance of collaboration between diverse players in the fintech ecosystem. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government will also make continuous efforts to facilitate a revitalization of the fintech industry. The FSC will hold the Fintech Open Networking Day on a biannual basis and plans to provide more networking opportunities through the annually held Korea Fintech Week (expected to be held in August this year) and a series of meetup events organized throughout the year for financial companies and fintech businesses. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jan 15, 2024
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Jan 03, 2024
- FSC Plans to Work on Measures to Improve the Competitiveness of Publicly Offered Funds
- Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission presided over a meeting with officials from related authorities and an industry groupto discuss plans to improve the competitiveness of the publicly offered funds market on January 3. In his opening remarks, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government has never been more serious about making fundamental changes to our capital markets, and that this plan is also a part of the policy drive intended to resolve the issue of Korea discount, the persistent undervaluation of Korean companies in stock markets. In this regard, the proposed plan will focus on nine specific ways to bring about improvements regarding institutions, products and infrastructure, with aims to cut transaction costs, strengthen product marketability and boost transaction convenience. First, the proposed plan intends to bring about improvements from institutions by strengthening the credibility and accountability of fund managers, sellers and related businesses including the fund accounting and administration companies and various ratings companies. Currently, the sales remuneration structure for fund sellers is designed in a way that all fund sellers are paid with fund assets in a uniform way. To boost accountability and competition between fund sellers, the authorities will introduce a more reasonable seller remuneration system (fund class) under which fund sellers will be paid directly from investors with the possibility of having different fee rates for different sellers within the statutory limit of one percent. For these types (or classes) of funds, the seller fee remuneration system can be linked to the performance of funds to boost responsibility of fund sellers. Along this line, the proposed plan will bolster asset managers accountability by requiring them to more regularly conduct evaluations on alternative investment assets and to more accurately advertise fees for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With increases in demand for more f
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Dec 14, 2023
- FSC Provides Guideline on Underlying Assets for Fractional Investment Service Providers
- The Financial Services Commission introduced a guideline on the underlying asset requirement of trust beneficiary certificates when a designated innovative financial service provider under the financial regulatory sandbox program intends to provide fractional investment service through issuance of trust beneficiary certificates. The guideline has been prepared after having discussions with the innovative financial service selection committee (Nov. 28) and at FSCs regular meeting (Dec. 13). In principle, fractional investment service providers need to first consider making use of the traditionally available investment vehicles. However, when it is deemed to be not viable, by applying the principle of supplementarity, a regulatory exemption may be granted under the Special Act on Support for Financial Innovation to allow the issuance of trust beneficiary certificates as prescribed by the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). Those applying to assume fractional investment business under the regulatory sandbox program should first look into ways to do so by making use of the traditionally existing means of investment vehicles permitted under current laws. Moreover, they should consider that there needs to be a sufficient level of contribution to innovation and investor convenience in issuing trust beneficiary certificates. In this regard, the supplementarity principle will be applied in a flexible manner to allow testing of innovative financial services, if the applying entity has given adequate consideration about the supplementarity principle, and that if there is not much usage of traditional investment vehicles in the fractional investment market. The trust beneficiary certificates underlying asset requirements include the following. First, an objective valuation and assessment should be available. The issuer of trust beneficiary certificates should determine the issuing price and quantity after assessing the value of trust assets, and the i
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Dec 11, 2023
- FSC Proposes Rules on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users
- The Financial Services Commission (FSC) proposed detailed rules under the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (the Act hereinafter), which is scheduled to take effect on July 19, 2024. Aimed at protecting virtual asset users and establishing a sound order in virtual asset transactions, the Act defines the scope of virtual assets subject to the law and requires virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to safely manage and store their customers deposits and virtual assets. It also provides statutory grounds for sanctions including criminal penalty and fines to punish unfair trading activities using virtual assets. The proposal is intended to specify details that the Act delegates to its subordinate enforcement decree and supervisory regulation. First, the proposal specifies more types of tokens not covered by the Act. Under the Act, virtual assets are defined as electronic tokens with economic value which can be traded or transferred electronically. The Act excludes game money, electronic money, electronic stocks, electronic bills, electronic B/L and central bank digital currency (CBDC) from the coverage of the law. The proposal adds electronic bonds, mobile gift certificates, deposit tokens linked to CBDC, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)to the list of excluded tokens. Second, the proposal prescribes what kind of financial institutions should be a custodian for VASP customers money and how customers funds should be managed. The Act requires VASPs to keep customers money separate from their own funds and deposit or trust them to a credible financial institution. Taking account of credibility, stability and current systems of operating deposit, the Enforcement Decree chose banks as a custodian institution for VASP customers money. Custodian banks are allowed to invest VASP customers deposit or trusted funds, kept separately from VASPs own funds, only in safe assets such as government bonds. VASPs are required to pay fees to their customers for using their deposit
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Dec 07, 2023
- FSC Proposes Rules Change to Establish Reasonable Standards for Calculating Data Transfer Fees in MyData
- The Financial Services Commission issued a preliminary notice of rules change regarding the supervisory regulation on credit information businesses on December 7, with aims to continue to seek innovation in financial MyData services. The revision proposal has been prepared after having taskforce meetings and discussions with MyData service providers and data specializing institutions. First, to ensure a sustainable operating environment for MyData services, the revision proposal establishes reasonable standards for pricing data transfer costs. Since the onset of MyData services in January 2022, MyData service providers have been receiving and gathering information transferred from a variety of data providers, such as financial institutions, telecommunications service providers and payment gateways. In this regard, this revision proposal provides reasonable grounds for pricing the cost of transferring data for MyData service providers. More specifically, a standard cost approach will be used to calculate data transfer costs, and the standard cost will be calculated based on the costs required to set up and operate a relevant data transfer system. On a need-to-need basis, a cost discount can be provided to MyData service providers based on individual business circumstances. To ensure fairness and transparency, specific procedures for pricing data transfer costs will be determined by Korea Credit Information Services (KCIS), which will set up a consultative body made up of various stakeholders. The pricing standards will be applied from 2023 and payable in installments from 2024. The Korea Financial Telecommunications Clearings Institute (KFTC) will set up an integrated payment system for data providing entities and MyData service providers. Second, the revision proposal will allow data specializing institutions to provide consulting in the areas of data convergence and pseudonymization, especially to small- and medium-sized fintech businesses, which often lack profess
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Nov 06, 2023
- FSC Selects 10 Outstanding Fintech Firms for 'K-Fintech 30'
- The Financial Services Commission announced on November 6 that the authorities have selected 10 innovative fintech businesses as the first batch of the K-Fintech 30 program, which aims to provide comprehensive funding and consulting support to a total of 30 outstanding fintech firms selected until 2025. For this round, the selected fintech businesses are Moin, Village Baby, SentBe, CTech, Akros Technologies, Aizen Global, Aims, Fount, Fin2B and Hanpass. At this round of selection for ten businesses, a total of 52 promising fintech firms competed to secure a spot, and the selection results have been drawn from a thorough review on the innovativeness and growth potential of their business models assessed by an expert committee. On average, the selected fintech firms were found to be in operation for 6.6 years, had annual earnings of about KRW5.55 billion, employed 57.1 persons and secured KRW18.0 billion in investment (as of July 2023). The selected fintech businesses will be able to benefit from a series of scale-up assistance programs, including various policy funding support opportunities, relevant financing services offered by individual financial companies, greater opportunities to secure investments and pitch their business ideas through IR events, fintech-focused counseling and support for overseas business expansion. More specifically, they will be eligible to receive various preferential lending benefits offered by policy financial institutions, such as reductions in interest rates and guarantee fees. Individual financial companies are also planning to provide support packages linked with their own fintech lab programs. The Korea Growth Investment Corporation and D-Camp will provide assistance to match innovative fintech businesses with investors and help them with IR opportunities. Lastly, the 10 selected fintech firms can also take advantage of other supports made available, such as consulting support for those applying for the financial sandbox program, as
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Oct 16, 2023
- Taskforce on ESG Finance Holds Meeting to Discuss Ways to Introduce ESG Disclosure System
- The Financial Services Commission held the third meeting of the taskforce on promoting ESG finance on October 16. Set up in February this year, the taskforce on ESG finance consists of representatives from businesses, investors, academia, experts and relevant institutions, and is aimed at exploring various policy tasks on the issues encompassing ESG disclosure, assessment and investment. At todays taskforce meeting, the authorities discussed the roadmap for introducing an ESG disclosure system in domestic market. In opening remarks, FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young spoke about the significance and the underlying principle of introducing an ESG disclosure system in Korea. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Kims remarks. First, introducing an ESG disclosure system in domestic market is important as this will help to improve domestic firms ability to adapt to the strengthened ESG regulatory environment overseas. As domestic firms are both directly and indirectly affected by global value chains, it is necessary to lay a regulatory foundation to help them adjust to the strengthening of relevant regulations in major overseas markets. Second, introducing an ESG disclosure system can make contributions for a sustainable growth of our economy and industries. This will also help our economy make a transition from the one centered on quantitative growth to the one driven by qualitative growth. Third, introducing an ESG disclosure system will induce domestic firms to seek more technological innovation in line with the shifting global paradigm toward digital transformation and low carbon society. In this regard, establishing rules on ESG disclosure will take into account the standards set forth by major economies and international organizations and give ample considerations for particular characteristics of domestic market and businesses. Second, applying the ESG disclosure rules on businesses will take place in phases, starting with large listed companies first and then
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Aug 30, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week Begins
- Koreas annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, will be held for three days from August 30 to September 1 with domestic fintech firms, financial companies, relevant organizations and foreign governments and institutions joining at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. The three-day (Aug 30 to Sep 1) fintech expo this year is the largest ever in its scale featuring a variety of exhibition halls as well as seminars and educational and experiential programs under the theme of the new wave of fintech. During the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman Kim So-young of the Financial Services Commission delivered welcoming remarks in which he emphasized the need to revitalize the fintech industry to propel innovation and continuous growth of the fintech industry. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim laid out three key policy directions to support the fintech industry. First, the government will strengthen support for fintech firms business expansion to overseas markets. Second, the government will facilitate more cooperation between financial companies and fintech businesses. Third, the government will reform fintech regulations to make them more reasonable to ensure that fintech businesses are able to take advantage of new technologies and drive innovation. At the same time, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government will directly engage and communicate with fintech enterprises and make sure that a variety of assistance is available on the ground so that our fintech industry can continue to grow amid digital transformation. Following the opening ceremony, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing event was held between financial companies, big tech platform businesses and Korea Growth Investment Corporation for establishing a second batch of fintech innovation fund in the amount of KRW500 billion for four years (2024-2027). After the opening ceremony featuring speeches by notable dignitaries, a policy briefing session is scheduled to be held during which visitors can
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Aug 21, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week to Kick Off August 30
- The annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, will kick off on August 30 with domestic fintech firms, financial companies, relevant organizations and foreign governments and institutions joining at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. The three-day (Aug 30 to Sep 1) fintech expo will be the largest ever in its scale featuring a variety of exhibition halls as well as seminars and educational and experiential programs under the theme of the new wave of fintech. After an opening ceremony featuring speeches by notable dignitaries, a policy briefing session is scheduled to be held during which visitors can learn about the Korean governments fintech policies as well as relevant fintech support programs made available by regional government bodies. Twelve different themed seminars are scheduled throughout the three-day expo period, inviting fintech experts and related organizations to have in-depth discussions about some of the most trending issues in fintech, such as payments, security, data usage, collaboration with a financial company and entering overseas markets. In particular, a joint fintech session with major international organizations (WB, EBRD, UNIDO and IFC) will provide an invaluable opportunity for visitors to get insights into global fintech trends and future development of the industry as the seminar will deal with the topics such as fintech and the future finance and linking sustainable development and fintech. There will be 82 exhibition booths organized into the fintech hall, financial hall, cooperating organizations hall and global exhibitor hall, showcasing innovative technologies and products from 107 businesses and organizations, which is the largest scale ever in terms of the number of on-site exhibition booths. A variety of helpful programs and events including global fintech: spoken by foreigners, fintech connecting day, fintech idea contest and fintech company IR pitching day as well as fintech job mentoring and career consulting wi
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Jul 27, 2023
- Authorities Propose Measures to Improve Special Listing Procedures for High-tech Companies
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with the relevant government ministries and private sector entities on July 27 and unveiled a plan to improve the special listing procedures for technology companies. The plan includes 14 specific reform items from the stage of listing application to listing review to post-listing management. First, in the listing application stage, a new super gap tech listing track will be created for high-tech and strategically critical technology companies, for instance in deep tech or deep science sectors. Among them, businesses that are market-tested for their growth potential will be allowed to have a tech assessment conducted only by a single entity. They need to be designated as national strategic technology companies or national advanced strategic technology companies as prescribed by the relevant laws, have market capitalization of KRW100 billion or more and have received investment of KRW10 billion or more in the past five years. In addition, a business eligible to apply for the super gap tech listing track will be allowed to seek a special tech listing track even when its largest investor is a middle market enterprise, considering wide adoption of open innovation business models based on collaboration between an SME and a middle market enterprise. However, the size of investment by a middle market enterprise will be limited to less than fifty percent to prevent potential problems regarding the ownership of the company. Also, the complex structure of the current special tech listing track will be made simpler and more reasonable. For instance, businesses with technological prowess will be able to apply through innovative technology track, while those with distinctive business models can apply through business model track. Second, in the listing review stage, a fast-track review process will be granted to those that have been turned down previously for reasons other than their technology or business viability. In this case,
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Jul 19, 2023
- FSC Designates Eight More Data Specializing Institutions to Promote Big Data Analytics
- The Financial Services Commission held the 14th regular meeting on July 19 and designated eight additional data specializing institutions (BC Card, Samsung SDS, Samsung Card, Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, LG CNS, Coocon, and Statistics Korea), bringing the total number of data specializing institutions to twelve. Data specializing institutions provide data convergence service on behalf of businesses when they develop new business strategies or services and evaluate the appropriateness of the pseudonymized data. In order to ensure the safety and efficiency of big data usage in financial sectors, data specializing institutions have been designated by the FSC since 2020 pursuant to the Credit Information Use and Protection Act. Since 2020, business demand for data convergence particularly between the financial and non-financial sectors has continued to increase. To ensure fairness, transparency and objectivity in data convergence, the seven newly designated data specializing institutions from the private sector other than Statistics Korea will be required to provide 50 percent or more of their data convergence services to non-affiliated external entities. With the addition of eight more data specializing institutions, it is expected that data convergence between different sectors as well as opening up of more private sector data will be promoted. * Please refer to the attached file for details.
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Jun 20, 2023
- Government to Provide Active Support to Facilitate Innovative Tech Companies to Raise Funds
- The Financial Services Commission announced on June 20 that the government will make all out efforts to facilitate innovative tech companies to raise funds through capital markets. To this end, the government plans to make changes to tech companies special listing rules and facilitate fundraising through MAs (mergers and acquisitions) and venture capital investment. First, in an inter-ministerial collaborative effort, the government plans to go on a series of roadshow in search for deep tech businesses to help cultivate their growth and listing on the stock exchange for about a month starting from June 21. Also, authorities will revamp the special listing system for tech companies and announce the improvement measures in July. Since 2005, the Korea Exchange has been operating various special KOSDAQ listing tracks for technologically innovative businesses or those with growth potential even when they are making no profit or have no sales record. So far, 184 companies made the listing on KOSDAQ through special listing tracks but still there are many startups and SMEs that are unaware of their eligibility or that lack relevant information. Thus, a month-long tech special listing roadshow will provide opportunities for tech companies to get information about the listing procedure and necessary preparatory work. Second, the FSC, the FSS and the KRX will set up a taskforce with relevant government ministries and other research and industry organizations with an aim to draw up measures to improve the rules and operation of special listing tracks for tech companies. The taskforce will look into the problem of having to go through a time-consuming and costly tech evaluation process for tech companies. Despite growing significance of open innovation where a startup company and a mid-sized company can make joint investment, the current regulations are restrictive for promising tech startups to scale up and commercialize their technology due to certain restrictions in the tech
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Jun 12, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week Scheduled to be Held from August 30 to September 1
- The annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, is scheduled to be held from Wednesday, August 30 to Friday, September 1 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul this year. The 2023 Korea Fintech Week will be held on the theme of the new wave of fintech, providing a venue for fintech businesses, financial companies, big tech platforms and investors to come together to share some of the latest fintech trends, pitch innovative business models and promote investment in the fintech industry. A variety of programs including fintech exhibitions, theme-based seminars and events for first-hand fintech experience will be available for participants. In order to actively support domestic fintech firms business expansion in overseas markets, this years Korea Fintech Week will have an expanded size of global hall to promote participation by many investors, accelerators and venture capitalists from many different countries. In addition, a collaboration hall will be newly set up for operation this year to encourage participation by the entire domestic fintech ecosystem including local government bodies, relevant organizations and universities. Also, a variety of helpful programs and events including a global fintech talk with a foreign influencer, fintech idea contest, finance-themed musical and fintech job mentoring and career consulting will be available to help visitors to learn about various fintech services and trends in an easy and fun way. It is expected that the 2023 Korea Fintech Week will provide vast opportunities to expand and reinvigorate Koreas fintech ecosystem. * Please refer to the attached filefor details.
