-
Jun 11, 2026
- Household Loans, May 2026
- In May 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors increased KRW9.3 trillion (preliminary), growing at a faster pace compared with the previous month (up KRW3.5 trillion). (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans edged up KRW4.0 trillion, rising at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW5.5 trillion). Mortgage loans rose more rapidly in the banking sector (up KRW2.7 trillion up KRW3.2 trillion), while growing at a slower pace in the nonbanking sector (up KRW2.8 trillion up KRW0.8 trillion). Other types of loans went up KRW5.3 trillion, edging back up rapidly from a decline of KRW2.0 trillion a month ago, with credit loans (down KRW0.9 trillion up KRW3.4 trillion) bouncing back up at rapidly. (By Sector) In May 2026, household loans in the banking sector rose KRW6.9 trillion, growing more rapidly from the previous month (up KRW2.1 trillion). Banks own mortgage loans (up KRW1.4 trillion up KRW2.1 trillion) increased at a faster pace, while policy-based mortgage loans (up KRW1.4 trillion up KRW1.1 trillion) grew at a slower pace. Other types of loans (up KRW3.7 trillion) turned back up from a drop of KRW0.6 trillion in the previous month. In the nonbanking sector, household loans went up KRW2.3 trillion, growing at a faster pace compared with the previous month (up KRW1.4 trillion). Mutual finance businesses (up KRW2.1 trillion up KRW0.7 trillion) saw household loans rising at a slower pace, while insurance companies (down KRW0.4 trillion up KRW0.9 trillion), specialized credit finance businesses (down KRW0.2 trillion up KRW0.6 trillion), and savings banks (down KRW0.02 trillion up KRW0.2 trillion) all saw household loans edging back higher from the previous month. (Assessment) In May 2026, home-backed mortgage loans (up KRW5.5 trillion up KRW4.0 trillion) went up at a slower pace despite recent increases in housing transactions and group lending for apartment subscription. However, other types of loans (down KRW2.0 trillion
-
May 22, 2026
- NICE Credit Information (NICE CI) Obtains Certificate to Operate in Vietnam from the State Bank of Vietnam
- The Financial Services Commission announced on May 22 that the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) granted a Certificate of Eligibility for Providing Credit Information Services to NICE Credit Information (NICE CI), which is NICE Information Services local subsidiary in Vietnam, on May 20. NICE CI will become fourth credit information service provider in Vietnam along with PCB (Jul 2013), FCBV (Dec 2024), and KCI (Dec 2024), in order of the time of authorization granted. For Vietnam, Korea is the largest FDI originating country, the second largest tourist sending country, and the third largest bilateral trade partner. In terms of overseas presence, Korean financial companies have the second largest number of overseas establishments in Vietnam (54 as of May 2026), second only to the United States (68). Shown by the recent license obtainment of Korea Development Banks Hanoi branch (Jan 2026) and Industrial Bank of Korea Vietnam (Apr 2026), and NICE CI (May 2026), Korean financial companies have been expanding their presence in the Vietnamese market across diverse sectors. The SBVs granting of certificate to NICE CI this time took only 10 months from the time of application in July 2025. The speedy result can be seen as a successful outcome of the Korea-Vietnam summit meeting (Apr 22), the high-level financial meeting between FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon and SBV Governor Pham Duc An (Apr 24), and constant efforts to strengthen communication and build local relationship by the private sector and overseas diplomatic channels. NICE CIs operation scheduled for H1 2027 in Vietnam will help to improve local financial companies risk management systems. Through this, NICE CI will also support Vietnam to strengthen its non-performing loan (NPL) management capacity. Equipped with advanced service tools and reliable credit information infrastructure, NICE CI will help to boost the credibility of Vietnams financial markets. Moreover, NICE CI plans to seek ways to help to improve financial ac
-
May 20, 2026
- Revised Rules on Whistleblower Reward and Strengthened Sanctions on Accounting Fraud to Take Effect from May 26
- The Financial Services Commission announced that revision proposals for the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) and the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies have been approved by the government at the cabinet meeting held on May 20. Key Revision Details a) Improving rules on whistleblower reward On February 25 this year, the FSC introduced a plan to overhaul the whistleblower reward program to strengthen incentives for insiders to report unfair trading and accounting fraud. The approved rules change today is a follow-up measure to this plan, abolishing all caps (KRW3 billion for unfair trading and KRW1 billion for accounting fraud) on whistleblower rewards. In this regard, authorities will also seek to update rules on subordinate regulations in line with the changes in relevant legislation. First, with the reward payout caps abolished, the method for calculating the amount of whistleblower reward will be linked to the amount of illicit gains or penalties (up to 30 percent), calibrated to the level of contribution made by whistleblowers for uncovering rule-breaking activities. This method will significantly increase the amount of rewards payable if the scale of unfair trading or accounting fraud is extensive, which will help to provide more incentives for insiders to report wrongdoings. Second, a whistleblowers reporting submitted to an authority other than the FSC or the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)such as the National Police Agency or the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commissionwill also qualify for rewards as the establishment of an inter-agency consultative mechanism will ensure seamless referrals and information sharing between related authorities. Third, if the whistleblower is also an accomplice in unfair trading activities, reward payouts were not possible previously. However, under the revised rules, reward payouts will be made possible in part if the whistleblower did not coerce others to tak
-
May 18, 2026
- Household Loans, April 2026
- In April 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors increased KRW3.5 trillion (preliminary), growing at a similar pace compared with the previous month (up KRW3.5 trillion). (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans rose KRW5.5 trillion, growing at a faster pace compared with the previous month (up KRW3.0 trillion). Mortgage loans in the banking sector (down KRW0.02 trillion up KRW2.7 trillion) edged back higher from a decline a month ago but expanded at a slower pace in the nonbanking sector (up KRW3.0 trillion up KRW2.8 trillion). Other types of loans dropped KRW2.0 trillion, edging back down from the increase of KRW0.5 trillion in the previous month with credit loans (down KRW0.2 trillion down KRW0.8 trillion) falling at a faster pace. (By Sector) In April 2026, household loans in the banking sector rose KRW2.2 trillion, growing at a faster pace from a month ago (up KRW0.5 trillion). Banks own mortgage loans (down KRW1.5 trillion up KRW1.3 trillion) edged back up, while policy-based mortgage loans (up KRW1.5 trillion up KRW1.4 trillion) grew at a slower pace. Other types of loans (down KRW0.6 trillion) shifted back lower from the growth of KRW0.5 trillion a month ago. In the nonbanking sector, household loans rose KRW1.3 trillion, growing at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW3.1 trillion). Mutual finance businesses (up KRW2.8 trillion up KRW2.0 trillion) saw household loans growing at a slower pace, while savings banks (down KRW0.4 trillion down KRW0.02 trillion) saw household loans declining at a slower pace. Insurance companies (up KRW0.5 trillion down KRW0.4 trillion) and specialized credit finance businesses (up KRW0.1 trillion down KRW0.2 trillion) saw household loans edging back lower from the growth seen in the previous month. (Assessment) In April 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans (up KRW3.5 trillion up KRW3.5 trillion) expanded at a similar level compared with a month ago, despite a faster
-
May 13, 2026
- FSC Approves Revisions to KRX Listing Rules to Facilitate Effective Delisting of Unviable Companies
- The Financial Services Commission approved a set of revision proposals to the Korea Exchange (KRX) listing regulations at the 9th regular meeting held on May 13. The FSCs approval today follows the previously announced plan (Feb. 12, 2026) to strengthen delisting rules to make the domestic stock markets more dynamic by facilitating a seamless entry of innovative companies and ensuring a swift and strict removal of unviable companies. Key Revision Details The revised KRX listing regulations will strengthen or newly introduce the following four key standards considered for delisting. First, the upward adjustment of market capitalization threshold for KOSPI-listed and KOSDAQ-listed companies, previously scheduled to take place from January 1, 2027 and January 1, 2028, with the market cap threshold rising to KRW30 billion and KRW50 billion for KOSPI-listed companies and to KRW20 billion and KRW30 billion for KOSDAQ-listed companies, respectively, will move up six months early each time. As a result, the market cap threshold for delisting will be raised from KRW20 billion currently to KRW30 billion for KOSPI-listed companies from July 1, 2026, and then to KRW50 billion from January 1, 2027. For KOSDAQ-listed companies, the market cap threshold for delisting will be raised from KRW15 billion currently to KRW20 billion from July 1, 2027, and then to KRW30 billion from January 1, 2027. Along this line, there have been also changes in specific standards and procedures to prevent the occurrence of temporary stock price pumps for avoiding delisting. Previously, companies went on the delisting watch list if they failed to stay above the market cap threshold for thirty consecutive trading days during a period of ninety trading days from the time of being designated on the watch list, but could avoid delisting if they were able to stay above the market cap threshold for ten consecutive trading days and thirty cumulative trading days during that time. However, this market cap requ
-
Apr 26, 2026
-
Apr 21, 2026
-
Apr 20, 2026
- Financial Companies Will be Able to Use Cloud-based Software as a Service on Internal Network from April 20
- The Financial Services Commission announced that financial companies and electronic financial service providers will be able to adopt and use cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) for various types of administrative and back office functions without the need to go through an approval process under the financial regulatory sandbox program from April 20. The revised rules on the supervision of electronic financial services went into effect on April 20, granting financial companies exemption to the network separation rule for the use of SaaS in their internal networks on the condition that they comply with certain security requirements. Key Revision Details First, SaaS programs specified under the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Development of Cloud Computing and Protection of Its Users will be exempted from the network separation rule pursuant to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and the supervisory regulation on electronic financial services. However, to prevent potential breaches of personal information, the exemption form the network separation rule will not apply to the handling of personal identification information or personal credit information. For the use of pseudonymized personal data in their SaaS programs, financial companies will still need to get an approval through the financial regulatory sandbox program. Second, with the granting of exemption from the network separation rule, financial companies will be required to maintain a more rigorous level of information protection control measures. More specifically, financial companies will need to (a) have their SaaS programs pre-screened by the Financial Security Institute (FSI), (b) maintain strict IT security protocols (certification, authorization, etc.) for access devices (computers and mobile devices), (c) have their compliance measures evaluated every six months and report finding to their chief information security officers (CISOs). To facilitate the adoption of various IT security and
-
Apr 10, 2026
- FSC Chairman Meets with Chairman of AMCHAM Korea and Discusses Ways to Strengthen Financial Competitiveness
- Chairman Lee Eog-weon of the Financial Service Commission met with Chairman and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea) James Kim at his office in Seoul Government Complex on April 10. At the meeting, FSC Chairman Lee and AMCHAM Korea Chairman Kim discussed ways to attract more investments in Korea from global financial institutions and strengthen Koreas financial regulatory competitiveness. On March 25 this year, AMCHAM Korea published a special report titled Koreas Financial Hub Agenda as part of its efforts to promote Korea as a leading financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region. In this regard, AMCHAM Korea Chairman Kim expressed significant potential for Korea to be able to host growing numbers of Asia-Pacific regional headquarters of multinational corporations in the future. In this regard, FSC Chairman Lee expressed appreciations for AMCHAM Koreas interest and support for Koreas financial sector development and shared how Koreas financial sector innovation has been perceived by the international society and what the government plans to do next. According to the 39th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 39), which was unveiled on March 26, 2026, Seoul and Busan ranked in the 8th and 23rd places, respectively, which demonstrates Koreas elevated financial hub status globally. In order to continue to boost Koreas financial sector competitiveness and facilitate an inflow of foreign investments, the FSC plans to work on a seamless implementation of the follow-up measureson omnibus account, English disclosure, dividend payout, etc.in accordance with the governments earlier announced roadmap (January 2026) for the inclusion in the MSCI developed markets index. In closing the meeting, FSC Chairman Lee and AMCHAM Korea Chairman Kim shared the same view on the need to maintain close cooperation and constructive dialogue between the two organizations in order to further help to strengthen Koreas financial hub status. * Please refer to
-
Apr 08, 2026
- Household Loans, March 2026
- In March 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors increased KRW3.5 trillion (preliminary), growing at a faster pace compared with the previous month (up KRW2.9 trillion). (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans rose KRW3.0 trillion, growing at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW4.1 trillion). The pace of growth in mortgage loans slowed down in both the banking (up KRW0.3 trillion up KRW0.003 trillion) and nonbanking (up KRW3.8 trillion up KRW3.0 trillion) sectors. Other types of loans rose KRW0.5 trillion, shifting back up from the decline of KRW1.2 trillion in the previous month, as credit loans (down KRW1.0 trillion down KRW0.2 trillion) dropped at a slower pace. (By Sector) In March 2026, household loans in the banking sector rose KRW0.5 trillion, turning back up from the decline of KRW0.4 trillion a month ago. Banks own mortgage loans (down KRW1.1 trillion down KRW1.5 trillion) declined at a faster pace, while policy-based mortgage loans (up KRW1.4 trillion up KRW1.5 trillion) edged up at a slightly faster pace. Other types of loans (up KRW0.5 trillion) shifted back up from the decline of KRW0.7 trillion a month ago. In the nonbanking sector, household loans edged up KRW3.0 trillion, growing at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW3.3 trillion). Mutual finance businesses (up KRW3.1 trillion up KRW2.7 trillion) saw household loans growing more slowly, while insurance companies (up KRW0.2 trillion up KRW0.6 trillion) saw household loans rising more rapidly. Savings banks (down KRW0.1 trillion down KRW0.4 trillion) saw household loans falling at a faster pace, while specialized credit finance businesses (up KRW0.1 trillion up KRW0.1 trillion) saw household loans expanding at a similar level compared with the previous month. (Assessment) In March 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans (up KRW2.9 trillion up KRW3.5 trillion) expanded at a somewhat faster pace from a month before led by th
-
Mar 25, 2026
- KoFIU Unveils H2 2025 Survey Result on Virtual Asset Service Providers
- The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) conducted a survey on 27 registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to assess the current state of the domestic virtual asset market and keep relevant statistics up to date. Survey Overview (Respondents) 27 VASPs (18 exchange service providers and 9 custody and wallet service providers) (Survey Method) Data collected from VASPs (Period Covered) July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025 Key Survey Findings for H2 2025 In the second half of 2025, the prices of major virtual assets declined. Compared with the previous six-month period, the number of users eligible to trade (up 360,000 or 3%) and the total amount of deposits in KRW (up 1.9 million or 31%) increased , but average daily trading volume (down 1.0 trillion or 15%), total operating profits (down 237.1 billion or 38%), and market capitalization (down 7.9 trillion or 8%) all declined. As the KRW-based exchange services continuing to dominate the market, the coin-only exchange service providers saw a drop in market capitalization (down 129.3 billion or 26%) over the same six-month period. However, the coin-only exchange market saw increases in average daily trading volume (up 220 million or 36%) and total operating profits (up 2.3 billion or 13%). The overall amount of external transfers of virtual assets to registered entities increased 6 percent. External transfers declined in terms of travel rule transactions (down 23%) but rose in transactions to the whitelisted overseas entities and personal digital wallets (up 14%). Despite a slight increase in the number of custody and wallet service users (up 20 or 3%), the total size of virtual assets in custody and wallet services (down KRW0.4 trillion or 58%) declined significantly due to drops in the base prices of virtual assets. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
-
Mar 20, 2026
- Korea Reappointed as Member of IFRS Foundation's Sustainability Standards Advisory Forum
- The Financial Services Commission announced on March 20 that Korea has been reappointed by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation as a member jurisdiction of the Sustainability Standards Advisory Forum (SSAF) for three years (2026-2028). The SSAF was established as an official advisory group to support the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in developing and upgrading IFRS sustainability disclosure standards. The members of the SSAF provide support by contributing their policy experiences in each jurisdiction and market environment. Along with Korea, the SSAF members for 2026-2028 include organizations from 16 different jurisdictions, such as the EU, the UK, China, Japan, Australia, and Canada. From Korea, the FSC and the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB) will join the SSAF. Koreas reappointment will facilitate the timely sharing of domestic conditions and concerns for implementation at an international stage and help to enhance consistency between international standards, domestic policies, and corporate disclosure practices. As Korea prepares to adopt sustainability disclosure rules in stages based on the international standards put forward by the ISSB, Koreas reappointment presents more opportunities to be able to align domestic experiences with global discussions. The FSC and the KSSB will participate in the first SSAF meeting for 2026-2028 scheduled to take place in March 2026 and will also take part in subsequent meetings to continue to relay Koreas experiences and concerns regarding the implementation of sustainability disclosures. The FSC plans to have continuous engagement with experts and related organizations and industry groups to gather wide-ranging opinions for international discussions and to make sure that domestic rules remain well-aligned with global standards. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
-
Mar 13, 2026
-
Mar 06, 2026
-
Feb 24, 2026
- Revised Rule to Require High Dividend Companies to Disclose Their Qualifications through Corporate Value-up Plans
- With the revised Act on Restriction on Special Cases Concerning Taxation (the Act hereinafter) taking effect from January 1, 2026, a separate taxation rule has been adopted on income generated from stock dividends. Under the revised Act, high dividend companies will need to disclose the information demonstrating that they have satisfied all the requirements prescribed under the revised Act to qualify for special cases in a manner specified by a presidential decree. In this regard, a revision bill to the Enforcement Decree of the Act was approved by the government at the cabinet meeting held on February 24, 2026, stipulating that high dividend companies should follow the rules concerning the disclosure of corporate value-up plans. Method of Disclosure and Provision of Assistance At the end of each fiscal year-end closing, high dividend companies will need to file disclosures of corporate value-up plans with the Korea Exchange (KRX) with contents detailing that they have satisfied all the requirementsto qualify for special cases concerning taxation under the Act until one day after the day that dividends are declared at the annual general meeting of shareholders (AGM). Since the disclosure of corporate value-up plan is prepared by companies on their own based on the individual characteristics of each listed company, specific disclosure contentsother than the required fields on dividends, as well as the decision regarding which criteria to incorporate and in what length will be left up to companies in principle. In particular, considering that this is the first year wherein high dividend companies will be filing disclosures of corporate value-up plans for indicating their qualifications for special cases concerning taxation, an abridged form of disclosure will be permitted containing only key disclosure contents, such as qualifications for special cases concerning taxation, return on equity (ROE), dividend payout ratio target, and capital expenditure (CapEx) target. To
-
Feb 11, 2026
- Household Loans, January 2026
- In January 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors increased KRW1.4 trillion (preliminary), turning back up from the decline of KRW1.2 trillion in the previous month. (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans increased KRW3.0 trillion, growing at a faster rate compared with the previous month (up KRW2.3 trillion). Mortgage loans dropped at a slightly faster rate in the banking sector (down KRW0.5 trillion down KRW0.6 trillion), but rose at a faster rate in the nonbanking sector (up KRW2.8 trillion up KRW3.6 trillion). Other types of loans edged down KRW1.7 trillion, declining at a slower rate compared with the previous month (down KRW3.6 trillion), as credit loans dropped at a slower pace (down KRW2.5 trillion down KRW1.0 trillion). (By Sector) In January 2026, household loans in the banking sector saw a drop of KRW1.0 trillion, declining at a slower rate compared with the previous month (down KRW2.0 trillion). Banks own mortgage loan products fell at a faster rate (down KRW1.4 trillion down KRW1.7 trillion), while policy-based mortgage loans rose at a slightly faster rate (up KRW0.9 trillion up KRW1.1 trillion). Other types of loans including credit loans declined at a slower rate (down KRW1.5 trillion down KRW0.4 trillion). In the nonbanking sector, household loans rose KRW2.4 trillion, growing at an expanded level from a month ago (up KRW0.8 trillion). Mutual finance businesses (up KRW2.0 trillion up KRW2.3 trillion) saw household loans edging up more rapidly, while insurance companies (down KRW0.02 trillion down KRW0.2 trillion) saw household loans declining at a faster rate. Specialized credit finance businesses (down KRW0.8 trillion down KRW0.02 trillion) saw household loans declining at a slower rate, while savings banks (down KRW0.5 trillion up KRW0.3 trillion) saw household loans shifting back up from a decline seen in the previous month. (Assessment) In January 2026, the outstanding balance of household loans edged up KRW1.
-
Feb 05, 2026
- FSC Introduces Measures to Strengthen Income Benefit and Enhance Convenience for Reverse Mortgage Subscribers
- The Financial Services Commission announced measures to strengthen income benefits and enhance convenience for reverse mortgage subscribers on February 5. Background The reverse mortgage program in Korea allows subscribers to take out reverse mortgage loans (monthly payments) using their houses as collateral in their lifetime, guaranteeing senior citizens a certain level of monthly income while continuing to live in their homes in retirement. Since the reverse mortgage program was first introduced in Korea back in 2007, there have been continuous efforts to expand the eligibility requirement regarding the age of subscribers and the price of houses.As a result, some 150,000 households were found to have subscribed to reverse mortgages in cumulative terms as of the end of 2025 (2% subscription rate). However, given the tendency of heavily concentrated wealth in real estate among senior citizensand rapidly aging populationin Korea, it remains necessary to further promote the use of the reverse mortgage program. In this regard, the following measures have been prepared to make reverse mortgage loans as a more mainstream source of retirement income generation for the elderly. Key Measures a) Increasing reverse mortgage payments Through a redesigning of the actuarial model used in the reverse mortgage program, subscribers will be able to receive increased payments. For an average subscriber (aged 72 with home value of KRW400 million), his or her monthly payments will increase by about 3.13 percent from KRW1,297,000 previously to KRW1,338,000. Over an entire subscription period (17.4 years for 72 y/o), the total amount of payments is forecast to be increased by about KRW8,490,000. This change will take effect for new subscribers from after March 1, 2026. In addition, there will be expanded support for low-priced homeowners residing in houses valued below a certain level. Currently, there is extra payment benefit provided to the subscribers who meet certain conditions (reci
-
Jan 30, 2026
- Capital Market Rules Change Proposed to Upgrade Regulations on Domestic Exchange-traded Fund Market
- The Financial Services Commission proposed capital market rules change to upgrade regulations on the domestic exchange-traded fund (ETF) market and help close the regulatory gap existing between domestically listed ETFs and overseas listed ETFs. The revision proposal for the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) and the regulation on financial investment businesses will enter a 40-day comment period from January 30 to March 11, 2026. Due to the presence of regulatory gap existing between domestically listed ETFs and overseas listed ETFs (with overseas ETFs being subject to eased regulations in their jurisdictions), it has been pointed out that the domestic ETF market has not been able to sufficiently absorb the demand of investors for diverse types of ETFs. In this regard, an upgrade to relevant regulations is proposed to improve regulatory consistency with global standards and boost the competitiveness of domestic capital markets, while ensuring stronger protection and greater convenience for investors to encourage investments in the domestic market. Key Revision Details a) Introducing single-stock ETFs (same rules to be applied on ETNs) In major overseas markets, such as the U.S. and Hong Kong, there are single-stock ETFs available for domestic investors to trade using mobile applications of domestic securities firms. However, in Korea, it is currently not possible to launch single-stock ETFs or single-stock ETNs due to the dispersed investment rule requiring ETFs to have at least ten (five for ETNs) underlying items with maximum 30 percent limit on each item. In this regard, the FSC will seek to amend relevant rules to allow the listing of single-stock ETFs tracking blue-chip stocks in the domestic market. The revised rules will also apply to exchange-traded notes (ETNs) through an update to the Korea Exchange (KRX) rules. Considering the need for investor protection and also overseas cases, leveraged ETFs and ETN
-
Jan 28, 2026
-
Jan 21, 2026
- Rule Change Proposed on Loan-to-deposit Ratio for Banks to Promote Supply of Funds to Regional Economies
- The Financial Services Commission issued a preliminary notice of rule change regarding the supervisory regulation on banking business on January 21. The proposed rule change will ease the standard for calculating loan-to-deposit ratios for banks to encourage them to supply more loans to companies and individual business owners operating outside the Seoul metropolitan area. The proposed rule change will be put up for public comment from January 22 until February 11, 2026 and go through an approval process before taking effect in the first quarter of this year. The proposed rule change is part of a broader policy initiative intended to boost the supply of funds to regional economies. In this regard, the proportion of policy funds being supplied to non-Seoul metropolitan regions will be increased from about 40 percent in 2025 to about 45 percent by 2028. This will push up the annual volume of policy funds being supplied to regional economies by about KRW25 trillion to a total of KRW120 trillion in 2028. To promote a well-balanced growth across regions, National Growth Fund, which will make investments in high-tech and future growth industries, will also allocate about 40 percent of its total investments to regions outside the Seoul metropolitan area. There will also be efforts to boost the supply of funds to regions from private financial companies. The FSC plans to upgrade rules and provide incentives to improve the competitiveness of regional banks and strengthen the function of savings banks and mutual finance businesses in providing regional finance. In this regard, the proposed rule change on banks loan-to-deposit ratio is intended to provide incentive for banks to supply more funds to regional economies. Under the current system, banks issuance of loans to companies, individual business owners, and households are weighted 85 percent, 100 percent, and 115 percent, respectively. However, with the rule change in place, the weight applied for calculating banks loan-t