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Sep 09, 2021
- FSC Chairman Holds Talks with SME and Small Merchant Groups
- FSC Chairman Koh Seungbeom met with the heads of the Korea Federation of SMEs and other relevant industry groups representing small merchants on September 9 and held talks on the coronavirus support measures. The following is a summary of Chairman Kohs remarks. The Korean economy has undergone major changes since the coronavirus outbreak began in February last year. In response to COVID-19, the government rolled out KRW175 trillion-plus stimulus programs to overcome the crisis. To support SMEs and small merchants, ultra-low rate loans and special guarantees were provided. Along this line, maturity extensions on existing loans and deferments on interest and principal payments became available through all financial sectors. Following concerns over possible credit rating downgrades and deteriorating lending conditions, the authorities urged all financial sectors to take into account individual businesses recovery prospects when assessing their credit standing for loans. Due to these measures, the liquidity risks of SMEs and small merchants have come down in large parts with improvements also shown in terms of their credit standings. The economy and financial markets now show signs of stability backed by active response from the government and efforts by businesses. However, SMEs and small merchants in contact-intensive sectors, such as restaurants, hospitality, tourism and wholesale and retail, continue to face difficult situations, especially with growing numbers of newly infected cases from July. With regard to the possibility of providing another extension on loan maturity extensions and payment deferrals, which have been extended twice for a six-month period each, the authorities will work to come up with optimal measures as soon as possible while considering the coronavirus situation, conditions of the real economy and comments from the financial sectors. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Sep 08, 2021
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Sep 08, 2021
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Sep 08, 2021
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Sep 08, 2021
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Sep 08, 2021
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Sep 06, 2021
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Sep 03, 2021
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Aug 26, 2021
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Aug 25, 2021
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Aug 16, 2021
- Authorities Provide Consulting to VASPs and Advise Supplementary Actions Prior to Registration
- As a follow-up to the governments plan to enhance supervision on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and their transaction activities,the FSC and relevant institutions provided on-site consulting to the 25 VASPs between June 15 and July 16 and advised them to take supplementary measures prior to their business registration. Out of the 33 VASPs that have already obtained the ISMS certification or are in the pending status, a total of 25 entities showed interest in receiving consulting from the authorities.As such, the FSC along with other relevant institutions provided on-site consulting to the 25 VASPs to review their preparation for business registration and check the level of stability in their transactions system. Key Details (Preparation for Registration) Pursuant to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (the Act hereinafter), VASPs should file necessary documents for registration until September 24 and adhere to AML duties from the time of their registration. As such, VASPs should have their own internal procedures, human resources and facilities ready to implement the AML requirements at the time of registration. When consulting was provided, no VASPs were found to have met all the registration requirements, and they have shown inadequate levels of preparedness for the implementation of the AML duties and other requirements set forth by the Act. Out of the 25 VASPs, 19 entities have obtained ISMS certification, but only four VASPs were found to have their business operation with real-name verified accounts. The VASPs that have obtained ISMS certification but have no real-name accounts may still apply for business registration but for the category that is barred from offering exchange services between virtual assets and a fiat currency. With regard to the level of preparedness in adhering to the AML requirements, the lack of employees overseeing this matter and insufficient system preparation for suspicious transactions
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Aug 11, 2021
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Aug 11, 2021
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Aug 10, 2021
- FSC Chairman Discusses Balance between COVID-19 Support and Preemptive Risk Management
- FSC Chairman Eun Sung-soo met with the heads of five financial holding groups on August 10 and held talks on creating quality jobs for young adults in financial sectors, managing household debt levels and maintaining COVID-19 financial support. (Creating Job Opportunities for Young Adults) Chairman Eun stated that a rapid transition to a digital economy may lead to diminishing job opportunities for young adults. However, the growth of fintechs is contributing to the creation of new jobs. As such, financial institutions should work to create quality jobs that are desirable for young adults, especially with this years joint job fair in financial sectors scheduled to be held in next month. (Household Debt Management) In the process of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growth in private sector debt level has been unavoidable. In this regard, it is time to focus on risk management as the pace of the growth has been accelerating. In order to control the pace of growth at an appropriate level (5 to 6% for this year), the financial authorities are working on strengthening supervision. As such, financial institutions should work on preemptive management to help prevent excessive debt levels turning into potential risks for the economy and financial sectors. (COVID-19 Financial Support) Over the past year, financial institutions made available KRW204 trillionworth of financial support for SMEs and small merchants in the form of maturity extensions and payment deferrals. The authorities are closely looking at the upside and downside effects of extending these support programs and making them available for longer. In the process, the authorities will maintain close communication with financial sectors. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Aug 04, 2021
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Aug 03, 2021
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Jul 29, 2021
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Jul 28, 2021
- Open Banking Service Availability to be Expanded
- With 23 open banking participating fintechs making available their data about customers prepaid deposit balances for open banking, open banking users will be able to access information about their prepaid deposit accounts from mobile applications of major banks or any other open banking offering financial institutions beginning from July 30, 2021. Open banking has expanded rapidly since its first launch in December 2019 as the cumulative number of subscribers reaching more than 89.7 million with about 166.8 million accounts registered as of July 25, 2021. The FSC has worked on gradually expanding the availability of open banking services from more types of financial institutions. As a result, open banking services are now available from about 110 banks, fintechs, mutual finance firms, savings banks, securities firms, credit card companies and the Korea Post. Along with the account balance inquiry and wire transfer functions as well as checking monthly statements for credit cards that have been already in service, users can now access information about their prepaid deposit accounts from any mobile application of their choosing. The authorities will continue to work for advancement of open banking and seek ways to promote the development of an open finance platform, while continuing to work on ensuring system security. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jul 28, 2021
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Jul 22, 2021
- FSC Selects Eight More 'Innovative Financial Services' for Financial Regulatory Sandbox
- The FSC decided to designate eight more financial solutions as innovative financial services at its regular meeting held on July 21. This brings the total number of designated services to 153 since the regulatory sandbox program was first launched on April 1, 2019. Overview of Newly Added Innovative Financial Services 1. A real-name identification and verification service using facial recognition technologies which allows consumers to visit bank branches and use financial services without presenting their ID cards (Daegu Bank, expected in Apr. 2022) 2. A real-name identification and verification service using facial recognition technologies for checking customers personal identification in contactless settings, which will allow customers to open up bank accounts even after the banks regular work hours (Busan Bank, expected in Oct. 2021) 3~5. Online-based telemarketing insurance subscription services using mobile devices that reduce the hassle of reading and recording scripts for insurance telemarketers while still guaranteeing supplemental measures for consumer protection (Toss Insurance, DB Insurance and NongHyup Life Insurance, expected in Oct. 2021, Feb. 2022 and Mar. 2022, respectively) 6~7. QR code enabled credit card payment services which require no physical point-of-service (POS) terminal for businesses to process credit card payments which will help improve convenience for consumers while allowing more small-scale businesses to adopt mobile simply payment methods (Seeroo Information and Paycoq, both expected in H1 2022) 8. A non-recourse accounts receivable factoring service which assumes the risk of buyers failure to honor payment obligations in place of the seller, thereby helping firms with new technologies to raise funds and carry out business operations in a more stable manner (Korea Technology Finance Corporation, expected in Jun. 2022) * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
