Financial stability is a prerequisite to innovation and inclusive finance policies. FSC maintains close market monitoring for any signs of market volatility and works to ensure stability in the financial markets. There are risk factors originating from abroad and from within. FSC focuses on making our economy more resilient from external shocks, such as a disruption in the global supply chain, and supporting Korea’s material, component and equipment industries to help boost their global competitiveness. Internally, FSC is closely monitoring the trends in household debt and seeking reforms to corporate restructuring in order to prevent domestic risk factors from turning into systemic risks. Policies aimed at increasing financial stability also include enhancing fairness in the financial markets by introducing a comprehensive legal framework for the supervision of financial conglomerates, improving market discipline and promoting transparency in corporate disclosure and accounting practices.
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Jul 14, 2022
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Jul 13, 2022
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Jul 04, 2022
- FSC and FSS Decide to Implement Measures to Mitigate Stock Market Volatility
- In response to a recent increase in stock market volatility, the financial authorities held a market monitoring meeting on July 1 and decided to take measures to mitigate market volatility. (a) Requirement for securities firms to maintain a certain level of collateral ratio on their credit loans will be exempted for three months starting from July 4, which may be extended if needed. (b) Caps on the amount of daily buy orders for acquisition of treasury stocks by listed companies will be eased for three months starting from July 7, which may be extended if needed. (c) The FSS and KRX will jointly conduct a special inspection on short-selling practices. Financial authorities will continue to monitor financial market conditions, holding a joint market monitoring meeting on a weekly basis, and consider or implement market volatility mitigation measures, if needed, in accordance with contingency plans. Background With the KOSPI falling below 2,300 points during intraday trading on July 1, Koreas stock market has shown continued and increasing volatilityon concerns over rising interest rates, expanding inflation, possibility of a global economic recession, etc. Although increased stock market volatility will be inevitable for a while, given macroeconomic conditions at home and abroad, it is necessary to stay alert about the spread of excessive market anxieties. Measures To Mitigate Stock Market Volatility The FSC and FSS held a joint market monitoring meeting with relevant securities institutionschaired by FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young to examine financial market conditions after the market closing on July 1, and decided to implement the following measures to mitigate market volatility. (a) For three months from July 4 to September 30, which may be extended if needed, securities firms will be exempted from a requirementto maintain a certain level of collateral ratios on their credit loans in order to ease concerns about a surge in forced liquidation with declining stock
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Jun 23, 2022
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Jun 16, 2022
- Post Office-Bank Partnership Expanded to Improve Offline Access to Banking Services
- FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young presided over a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing event between Korea Post, four major banks and the Korea Financial Telecommunications Clearings Institute (KFTC) on June 16 for expanding consignment partnership between the banks and the post office. Vice Chairman Kim also announced the governments plan for improving offline access to banking services in order to guarantee consumers choice in accessing financial services both online and offline and improve convenience for vulnerable groups such as the elderly. MOU Signing Korea Post, four major banks (Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori and KEB Hana) and the KFTC signed an MOU and agreed to proceed with the consignment of banking services (deposit, withdrawal functions, etc.) to post offices with a goal to make services available within this year. Summary of Vice Chairmans Opening Remarks Rapid digital transformation taking place recently throughout the financial industry including the banking sector has led to an increase in mobile-based and contactless financial transactions and a continuing decline in the number of bank branches. However, offline financial services will continue to play an important role for maintaining the quality of banking services, ensuring inclusive finance for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and meeting diverse demands of consumers. Moreover, it is necessary that the government and the industry make joint effort to help improve offline access to financial services. To this end, the authorities have prepared a plan for improving offline access to banking services to ensure the availability of offline channels that can serve as an alternative to bank branches. Improving Offline Access to Banking Services (Expanding Consignment Partnership) The authorities are seeking a diversification in the availability of offline channels offering simple banking services such as deposit and withdrawal functions through consignment of banking services to the post office and c
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Jun 09, 2022
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May 24, 2022
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May 18, 2022
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May 02, 2022
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Apr 01, 2022
- FSC Approves Rules Change to Gradually Introduce Mark-to-Market Valuation on Corporate MMFs
- The FSC approved a revision to the regulation on financial investment business at the 6th regular meeting held on March 30 for gradually introducing the mark-to-market valuation method on corporate money market funds (MMFs) and to check relevant preparation and implementation to facilitate a soft-landing of the mark-to-market method in the market. Background The mark-to-market valuation method on corporate MMFs is scheduled to take effect from April 1, 2022, which was introduced through amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) and the regulation on financial investment business in March 2020. Although the mark-to-market valuation method is considered as the rule of the game in principle, prior to the amendments, the book value method was permitted on MMFs as long as the disparate rate in the market-to-book value is within 0.5 percent. However, when disparity in the market-to-book value widens, there is a possibility of causing an abrupt and large-scale redemption as the earlier the investor redeems his/her money, the higher valuation s/he will get on return. As such, the amendments have been introduced to bring about improvements by introducing and implementing the mark-to-market valuation method on corporate MMFs from April 2022. Some of the key changes include (a) making an exemption to allow the book value method on corporate MMFs with more than 30 percent of stable assets as prescribed by the regulation on financial investment business and (b) expanding the duration of corporate MMFs using the mark-to-market valuation method from 75 days previously to 120 days to promote a wider use. However, with a growing potential of rising volatility in short-term money markets recently, there have been calls for a need to introduce the mark-to-market valuation method in a step-by-step manner in order to prevent corporate MMFs from turning into potential risk factors. With the MMFs current preference for the bo
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Mar 31, 2022
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Mar 24, 2022
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Mar 24, 2022
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Mar 23, 2022
- Maturity Extension and Payment Deferment on Business Loans Extended for Six More Months
- FSC Chairman Koh Seungbeom held a meeting with the financial industry groups and state-backed financial institutions on March 23 and made a final decision to extend the availability of loan maturity extension and payment deferment for SMEs and small merchants for six more months until the end of September 2022. Current Situation Since April 2020, the financial industry has made available maturity extensions and payment deferments to SMEs and small merchants struggling through the coronavirus pandemic. Between April 2020 and January 2022, the total volume of loans (principal and interest) under these programs amounted to KRW291.0 trillion (or 1,165,000 cases).As of the end of January 2022, the balance of loans under these programs amounted to KRW133.4 trillion (or 704,000 cases). The maturity extension and payment deferment programs have contributed to the recovery efforts of SMEs and small merchants without businesses having to worry about their payment burdens. According to a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of SMEs in January 2022, some 80 percent of SMEs have indicated that these support measures have helped them. The measures to help ease the payment burdens of businesses after the program expiresand the measures to reinforce the debt structureare also currently being implemented seamlessly. About 54 percent (or KRW9.0 trillion) of loans under the payment deferment program (principal and interest) have completed one-on-one pre-consultation with financial institutions, and about one third of them (KRW3.0 trillion) have already begun making payments on loans. Background Despite extending the availability of maturity extension and payment deferment programs three times over the past two years,SMEs and small merchants are continuing to experience difficulties due to the spread of the coronavirus variants. In its decision to pass the supplementary budget on February 21, 2022, the National Assembly made an additional bipartisan comment to seek an additional ex
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Mar 18, 2022
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Mar 14, 2022
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Mar 07, 2022
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Mar 04, 2022
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Mar 02, 2022
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Mar 02, 2022
- KoFIU Unveils 1st Comprehensive Survey Result on Domestic Virtual Asset Market
- The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) has conducted its first comprehensive survey on 29 virtual asset service providers to have better understanding of the market based on the statistical data provided by individual business operators. Overview As of the end of 2021, the total market capitalization of the virtual asset market in Korea stood at KRW55.2 trillion with the average daily transaction volume amounting to KRW11.3 trillion. As of the end of December 2021, a total of 29 virtual asset service providers (4 KRW-based exchange platforms, 20 coin-only exchange platforms and 5 crypto wallet or depository service providers) were given an approval to operate their business according to the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information.Among them, the 5 wallet or depository service providers have been excluded from this survey as they were found to be at an early stage of business operation, thus offering no statistically significant data to the survey. The following are key findings from the survey which include key statistical data about the market size, number of virtual assets being traded, user characteristics, etc. Key Findings I. Virtual asset exchange platforms (Trade volume) In the second half of 2021, the total transaction amount at 24 virtual asset exchanges amounted to KRW2.073 quadrillion with the average daily transaction amount of KRW11.3 trillion. At the end of December 2021, the total market capitalization of virtual assets being traded by 24 crypto exchanges stood that KRW55.2 trillion. The KRW-based exchange markets average daily trading amountwas KRW10.7 trillion (or about 95%) whereas that for the coin exchange market was about KRW0.6 trillion (5%). (Transaction fee) The average transaction fee being charged at a virtual asset exchange was 0.17 percent, which is relatively high in comparison to stock trading fees. Depending on individual platforms, the transaction fee rate ranged from a minimum of 0.05 percent to