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Apr 03, 2023
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Apr 03, 2023
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Mar 20, 2023
- KoFIU Unveils H2 2022 Survey Result on Virtual Asset Service Providers
- The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) conducted a survey on 36 registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in order to ascertain the current state of the domestic virtual asset market. Survey Overview (Respondents) 36 VASPs (27 exchange service providers and 9 other businesses) (Survey Method) Data collected from VASPs by paper surveys (Period Covered) July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 Key Survey Findings for H2 2022 The domestic market for virtual assets in H2 2022 was downsized significantly compared to that of H1 2022 in terms of market capitalization, trading volume, operating profits, etc.This seems to be caused by a contraction in the real economy due to interest rate and price hikes, as well as a decline in confidence following the Luna crash and the collapse of FTX. According to the survey, the amount of deposits in KRW and the number of users, which show potential investment demands in the future, both declined. Investment in the global top ten virtual assets, such as Bitcoin, handled by the KRW-based exchange service providers increased from 46 percent in H1 2022 to 57 percent in H2 2022 (up about 11 percentage points), which is greater than that in non-mainstream virtual assets. New listing of virtual assets also dropped significantly by about 72 percent compared to H1 2022, showing a tendency of VASPs conducting their operations more conservatively following the Terra-Luna crash. The newly analyzed items in the H2 2022 survey include the reason for suspending transaction (delisting of a virtual asset) and the VASPs compliance status with the travel rule.In H2 2022, the most prevalent reasons for delisting of virtual assets were in the order of project risk (50 percent), investor protection risk (22 percent) and market risk (22 percent). The amount of transactions between domestic VASPs that were subject to the travel rule amounted to KRW7.5 trillion, about 25 percent of all VASPs external transfer volume (KRW30.6 trillion) in H2 2022. The
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Mar 09, 2023
- Household Loans, February 2023
- In February 2023, the outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors declined KRW5.4 trillion compared to last month (m-o-m). The year-on-year change rate also dropped at a greater level (down 1.3 percent) compared to last month (down 1.3 percent), which showed a continuing trend of decline. Financial authorities will closely monitor household debt situation to keep it at a stable level, while continuing to inspect whether there exist any risks to household debt caused by high interest rates. (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors dropped KRW5.4 trillion in February 2023. The year-on-year change rate (down 1.3 percent) declined at a faster pace compared to the previous month (down 1.0 percent in January), showing a continuing trend of decline since the second half of last year. (By Type) Mortgage loans (m-o-m) dropped for two consecutive months, and other types of loans also continued to decline. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans fell KRW0.6 trillion as both the banking sector and the nonbanking sector saw a drop of KRW0.3 trillion each. - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans fell KRW4.8 trillion, led by credit loans (down KRW2.5 trillion), but the pace of decline was slower compared to the previous month (down KRW7.1 trillion in January). (By Sector) Household loans edged down in both the banking and nonbanking sectors. - (Banking Sector) Household loans in the banking sector declined KRW2.7 trillion in February. Regarding mortgage loans, banks saw a growth in policy mortgage loans (up KRW1.0 trillion) and general individual mortgage loans (up KRW0.7 trillion), but a drop in jeonse loans (down KRW2.5 trillion),which resulted in a decline of banks mortgage loans for the first time since relevant statistics began to be collected in 2015. Other types of loans from banks dropped KRW2.4 trillion, led by credit loans (down KRW1.9 trillion), but the pace of decline slowed compared to the previous month. - (Nonbanking Sector) Nonb
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Mar 08, 2023
- SFC Imposes Penalty Surcharge on Violation of Short Selling Regulation for First Time
- The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), a sub-commission of the FSC responsible for the oversight of the securities and futures market, reached a decision on March 8 to impose penalty surcharges of KRW3.87 billion and KRW2.18 billion on company A and company B, respectively, for their naked short selling activities, which violate the regulations on short sales prescribed in Article 180(1) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). Previously, illegal short selling activities were handled with administrative fine or caution. This is the first instance where authorities are imposing penalty surcharge on entities who committed those activities. While closely cooperating with relevant institutions, authorities will continue to maintain effective market monitoring, detection and investigation system on violation of regulations against short sales, and continue to strictly penalize illegal activities. Summary of Violation and Details of Discussion a) Company A had recorded on its internal system some amount of ◇◇◇ stocks that are expected to be issued through a capital increase without consideration before they are actually issued, in order to assess the value of its funds. Then, perceiving the stock as those can be sold, the company submitted sell orders on 210,744 ordinary shares (KRW25.14 billion) of ◇◇◇, which the fund had no ownership of, within a certain period in 2021. This was in violation of the regulation that prohibits naked short selling. b) Company B had erroneously entered the information of the borrowed △△▽ stocks, the name of which is similar to that of △△△ stocks, into its balance management system. Then, based on this overstated balance, the company submitted sell orders on 27,374 ordinary shares (KRW7.329 billion) of △△▽ stocks (which the company actually had no ownership of) on a certain day in 2021. This was in violation of the regulation that prohibits naked short selling. As this is the f
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Mar 03, 2023
- Interest Rate Disclosure to be Expanded in Banking Sector to Promote Competition
- Financial authorities announced a plan to expand banks disclosure of the differences between interest rates on deposits and loans at the 1st working group meeting of the taskforce on improving the management and operating practices of banks and banking system held on March 2. The following are specific measures of the plan. a) Along with the current comparative disclosure on the differences between interest rates on newly transacted deposits and loans across different banks, the banking sector will additionally provide comparative public disclosure on the differences between interest rates on outstanding balance of deposits and loans among different banks, which will show the profitability level of each bank. In addition, the banking sector will also provide information on detailed interest rate of loans (household loans, business loans, etc.) and deposits based on outstanding balances. b) Interest rates on jeonse loans, which are highly relevant to peoples daily life, offered by individual banks will be comparatively disclosed in order to facilitate clear comparison of interest rates on jeonse loans (interest rates on home mortgages and credit loans are currently being disclosed). c) The banking sector will comparatively disclose individual banks interest rates on household loans in a more detailed manner, which subdivide them into base rate, spread, and preferential rate, intended to help customers compare respective characteristics of banks interest rates calculation. d) Each bank will voluntarily add a new webpage to put up explanations of the factors that bring about changes in their interest rates, such as expansion of loans to low- and mid- credit borrowers or increased ratio of short-term bank borrowings. Authorities plan to revise the detailed regulations on supervision of banking business and set up a computer network system between the Korea Federation of Banks and individual banks with a goal to begin implementation of these measures in July this year.
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Feb 28, 2023
- Fast-Track System to be Utilized Effectively in Investigation of Unfair Trading Activities
- The FSC, the FSS, the Korea Exchange and Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office held a joint council meetingon February 27. At the meeting, authorities discussed and reviewed the outcome of operating the fast-track system in handling unfair trading activities in 2022. The fast-track system, introduced in 2013, is an emergency measure by Chair of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in which a case deemed urgent and significant can be referred to the prosecutors office without going through the SFCs deliberation. If a case under investigation by the FSC or the FSS is deemed to have urgent need of the prosecutors investigation due to concerns about a suspect fleeing or a potential destruction of evidence, SFC Chair can decide to quickly refer the case to the prosecutors office after consulting with relevant authorities. In 2022, the FSC and the FSS referred a total of 20 casesto Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office through the fast-track system, leading to prosecution of numerous offenders within short periods of time. In order to more effectively respond to unfair trading activities, which are becoming more sophisticated and organized, authorities will strengthen cooperation among related agencies and concentrate more investigative capacity on major cases that have a potential to inflict significant losses to investors. By utilizing the fast-track system, authorities will take swift and stern responses against major cases involving unfair trading activities, and make continuous efforts to improve the operation of the fast-track system. Major Fast-Tracked Cases in 2022 [Case #1] Case involving circulation of false information about COVID-19 test kit and sale of company stocks at high price for profiteering (Case Summary) The offenders (a) acquired a KOSDAQ-listed company (company A) through a leveraged buyout (LBO: MA without own capital), (b) then spread a rumorabout company As COVID-19 test kit to drastically push up its stock price,and (c) sold the
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Feb 09, 2023
- Household Loans, January 2023
- In January 2023, the outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors declined KRW8.0 trillion (m-o-m) and the growth rate also dropped at a faster pace (down 1.0 percent, y-o-y), showing a strong trend of decline. Financial authorities will ensure stable management of household debt and continue to seamlessly implement the normalization of relevant loan regulations to help non-speculative homebuyers. (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors dropped KRW8.0 trillion in January 2023. The year-on-year growth rate (down 1.0 percent) declined at a faster pace compared to the previous month (down 0.5 percent), showing a continuous trend of slowing down. (By Type) Mortgage loans went down month-on-month for the first time since relevant statistics became available in 2015, and the rate of decline for other types of loans has also increased. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans fell KRW0.6 trillion in January, led by jeonse loans (down KRW1.8 trillion) and home-backed mortgage loans from nonbank sectors (down KRW0.6 trillion) such as mutual finance. - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans fell KRW7.4 trillion, as the rate of the decline increased compared to the previous month (down KRW5.2 trillion), led by credit loans. (By Sector) Household loans edged down in both the banking and nonbanking sectors. -(Banking Sector) Household loans in the banking sector declined KRW4.6 trillion in January. Regarding mortgage loans, banks saw a growth in government-sponsored mortgage lending (up KRW1.7 trillion) and group lending for new apartment subscription (up KRW0.3 trillion), but a drop in jeonse loans (down KRW1.8 trillion).Other types of loans from banks dropped KRW4.6 trillion, declining at a faster pace from a month ago (down KRW2.9 trillion) led by credit loans (down KRW3.8 trillion). -(Nonbanking Sector) In January, nonbanks saw a drop of KRW3.4 trillion in household loans with a slight rise in savings banks (up KRW0.1 trillion) but declines
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Jan 26, 2023
- SFC Imposes Penalty Surcharge on Overseas-based Financial Investment Entity for Market Disturbance
- The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), a sub-commission of the FSC responsible for the oversight of the securities and futures market, decided on January 26 to impose a penalty surcharge of KRW11.88 billion on an overseas-based financial investment business entity (securities firm A hereinafter) for disturbing market order with its high-frequency algorithmic trading activities. This is the first instance in Korea where authorities reached a decision to impose a penalty surcharge for market disturbance caused by high-frequency algorithmic trading activities.With the growth in the volume of high-frequency algorithmic transactions recently, financial authorities will continuously strengthen the administration of market risks associated with them. Overview The SFC recognized that securities firm A engaged in an activity of disturbing market order in its transactions of a total of 264 stock items in 6,796 trading periods via a Seoul-based securities firm (securities firm B) between October 2017 and May 2018, and decided to impose a penalty surcharge of KRW11.88 billion on securities firm A, pursuant to the Article 429-2 of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). Violation Securities firm A engaged in trading activities using its algorithmic trading system, which enables it to acquire and analyze data on price quotation and trade executions as well as submit buy and sell orders via direct market access (DMA)more quickly than ordinary retail investors. In the process, securities firm A placed orders intensively and repetitively within a short period of time in the following pattern(a) placing immediate-or-cancel (IOC)buy market orders to exhaust all quantities of best ask prices in succession, and (b) submitting buy limit orders on any remaining unfilled quantity where there is no bid price given in order to newly generate the best bid price (inflating bid price) and then cancelling such transactions. Thus, a suspicion was raised that secur
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Jan 12, 2023
- Household Loans, 2022
- The outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors dropped KRW8.7 trillion in 2022, declining for the first time since relevant statistics became available in 2015.Household loans in December 2022 fell KRW3.4 trillion, showing a continuing trend of a slowdown.Financial authorities will work to seamlessly implement the normalization of loan regulations, while continuing to stably managehousehold debt. Household Loan Trend in 2022 (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors dropped KRW8.7 trillion in 2022. The growth rate (down 0.5 percent, y-o-y) fell for the first time since relevant statistics began to be collected in 2015. (By Type) Mortgage loans grew at a slower rate and the balance of other types of loans edged down, which led to the overall drop in household loans in 2022. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans grew KRW27.0 trillion in 2022, led by group lending for new apartment subscription and jeonse loans, but the pace of growth decelerated compared to the previous year (up KRW69.2 trillion). - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans fell KRW35.6 trillion in 2022, due to drops in credit loans and non-housing collateral loans. The increase of KRW38.3 trillion in the previous year turned to a decline. (By Sector) Household loans in both the banking and nonbanking sectors dropped compared to the end of last year. - (Banking Sector) Banks saw a drop of KRW2.7 trillion in household loans in 2022. Mortgage loans from banks grew KRW20.0 trillion, led by group lending for new apartment subscription (up KRW9.4 trillion) and jeonse loans (up KRW8.4 trillion),but edged lower compared to the previous year (up KRW56.9 trillion). Other types of loans from banks fell KRW22.8 trillion, as credit loans edged down KRW18.8 trillion, switching to a decline from the growth of KRW14.7 trillion last year. - (Nonbanking Sector) In 2022, nonbanks saw a drop of KRW5.9 trillion in household loans with increases in insurance companies (up KRW3.7 trillion
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Dec 22, 2022
- Korea Appointed as Inaugural Member of IFRS Sustainability Standards Advisory Forum
- The Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Korea Accounting Institute (KAI) have been appointed by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation as inaugural member institutions of the Sustainability Standards Advisory Forum (SSAF) representing Korea on December 21, 2022. The SSAF is established to support the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to develop and revise IFRS sustainability disclosure standards. It will be comprised of relevant government authorities and standard-setting institutions from around the world. Including those from Korea, thirteen representatives of jurisdictions and regions from around the worldthe European Union, the UK, Canada, China, Japan, Brazil, etc.have been appointed as SSAFs inaugural members. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the European Commission (EC), the International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) will also participate as official observers. From Korea, the FSC and the KAI have been appointed as joint members to the SSAF, and the Korean delegation will be led by Director Kim Kwang-il of the FSCs Fair Market Division. The FSC and the KAI will attend the SSAF meetings four times annually. In the standard-setting process, authorities will effectively relay various opinions from domestic industries, academia and experts on sustainability disclosure. The first meeting of the SSAF will be held at the ISSB head office in Frankfurt, Germany in the first quarter of 2023, and presumably, the final standards for the general sustainability-related disclosure requirements and the climate-related disclosure requirements that were previously announced in March 2022 as well as the ISSBs future standard-setting directions will be discussed. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Dec 20, 2022
- Government Approves Revision Bill to Strengthen Rights of General Shareholders in Split-off of Listed Company
- The government approved an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) at the state council held on December 20. This amendment is a follow-up to the measures to improve protection for general shareholders in IPO of split-off subsidiary announced on September 5. Key Details and Anticipated Effect Until the end of this year, all three layers of general shareholder protection system regarding IPO of split-off subsidiary become established and begin operation. With this system, it is expected that companies will pay sufficient attention to the rights and interests of general shareholders when they pursue a split-off and losses incurred to general shareholders in a split-off of a subsidiary, which has been pointed out repeatedly, will be effectively prevented. a) (Enhanced Disclosure) From October 18 this year, companies seeking to split off a subsidiary disclose their business restructuring plan including the purpose of split-off, anticipated effect, shareholder protection measures and listing plan on their material fact reports. - As a result, general shareholders and investors can get adequate information related to the split-off and make informed decisions at general meetings of shareholders, when exercising the right to request companies to purchase their shares and when making investments. b) (Right to Request Company to Purchase Shares) The amendment approved today grants shareholders, who dissent from the companys split-off decision, a rightto request that company purchase his or her stocks when the companys board of directors reaches a resolution to make a split-off. - If a majority of general shareholders is opposed to the split-off or that a potential drop in company value is triggered, pursuing a split-off in itself can be difficult. Therefore, in essence, listed companies can pursue a split-off only when they prepare shareholder protection measures in place and have convinced general shareholders
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Dec 08, 2022
- Household Loans, November 2022
- In November 2022, the outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors declined KRW3.2 trillion (m-o-m). Household loans continued to show a declining trend as the year-on-year growth rate in November dropped for the first time since relevant statistics became available in 2015.Financial authorities will stably manage the grow rate of household debt and work to seamlessly implement the normalization of relevant loan regulations to help alleviate the difficulties of non-speculative homebuyers. (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors dropped KRW3.2 trillion in November. The growth rate (down 0.3 percent, y-o-y) fell for the first time since relevant statistics began to be collected in 2015, which shows a sustaining trend of a slowdown since the second half of last year. (By Type) Mortgage loans grew at a slower rate and other types of loans fell more rapidly from the previous month, leading to acceleration in the overall pace of the decline in household loans. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans rose KRW0.5 trillion in November, growing at a slower rate compared to the previous month (up KRW2.0 trillion), led by jeonse loans. - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans declined at a faster rate (down KRW3.6 trillion) compared to a month ago (down KRW2.2 trillion), led by a drop in credit loans. (By Sector) Household loans in the banking sector continued to drop while the nonbanking sector also saw a shift to a decline. - (Banking Sector) Banks saw a drop of KRW1.1 trillion in household loans. Mortgage loans from banks grew KRW1.0 trillion,rising at a slower rate compared to the previous month (up KRW1.3 trillion), as government-sponsored mortgage lending and group lending for new apartment subscription went up KRW2.6 trillion and KRW0.6 trillion, respectively. Other types of loans from banks fell KRW2.0 trillion, declining at a faster rate compared to the previous month (down KRW1.9 trillion), led by a drop in credit loans (down KRW1.8
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Nov 14, 2022
- Single-stop Online Loan Transfer System to be Set Up to Reduce Interest Burden on Consumers
- The FSC announced its plan to set up a single-stop online loan transfer system on November 14 to help alleviate the burden of high interest rates on financial consumers. With recent interest rate increases, it is necessary to find ways to lessen financial consumers interest costs.The FSC plans to facilitate loan transfer,as one of these ways, allowing financial consumers to more easily swap their present loans to reduced interest rate loans. Current Market Situation Currently, there is not a lot of products for loan transfers in the personal loan market because of inconvenience for the loan applicants and lack of a relevant infrastructure.In the first place, the absence of a fully integrated online system in financial institutions has required the payment of existing loans in the offline mode,which results in time and costs for both financial consumers and financial institutions. Second, since there are very few platforms offering comparison services for loans and because there is a limited amount of information, namely, accurate information on the current loan, the cost (various fees when transferring loan) and the benefits (savings generated from lower interest rate), which can help consumers make informed decisions, borrowers still have a difficult time making a decision about the loan transfer. The FSC announced its plan to set up a single-stop online loan transfer system on November 14 to help alleviate the burden of high interest rates on financial consumers. With recent interest rate increases, it is necessary to find ways to lessen financial consumers interest costs.The FSC plans to facilitate loan transfer,as one of these ways, allowing financial consumers to more easily swap their present loans to reduced interest rate loans. Key Details of Plan a) Build an online loan transfer system between financial institutions The payment of the loan, from the request of payment to the provision of the necessary information and to the final confirmation of the payment
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Nov 10, 2022
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Nov 09, 2022
- Household Loans, October 2022
- In October 2022, the outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors fell KRW0.2 trillion (m-o-m), declining for the second consecutive month from a month ago (down KRW1.2 trillion).Financial authorities will swiftly roll back relevant loan regulations to help alleviate difficulties of non-speculative homebuyers. At the same time, authorities will stably manage the grow rate of household debt. (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors dropped KRW0.2 trillion in October. The growth rate (y-o-y) was 0.2 percent which continues to show a downward trend since the second half of 2021. (By Type) Mortgage loans increased at a faster rate than the previous month and other types of loans fell at a slower rate, leading to a slowdown in the pace of an overall decline in household loans. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans rose KRW2.0 trillion in October, growing at a slightly faster rate compared to the previous month (up KRW1.9 trillion), led by group lending for new apartment subscription. - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans fell at a slower rate (down KRW2.2 trillion) compared to a month ago (down KRW3.1 trillion), led by a drop in credit loans. (By Sector) Overall household loans edged down as nonbanks saw a growth and banks maintained a declining trend. - (Banking Sector) Banks saw a drop of KRW0.6 trillion in household loans. Mortgage loans from banks grew KRW1.3 trillion,rising at a faster rate than the previous month (up KRW0.9 trillion), as government-sponsored mortgage lending and group lending for new apartment subscription went up KRW1.0 trillion and KRW0.7 trillion, respectively. Other types of loans from banks fell KRW1.9 trillion, declining at a slower rate than the previous month (down KRW2.1 trillion), led by a drop in credit loans (down KRW1.6 trillion). (Nonbanking Sector) In October, nonbanks saw an increase of KRW0.4 trillion inhousehold loans with declines in mutual finance (down KRW0.4 trillion) and specialized cre
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Oct 13, 2022
- Household Loans, September 2022
- In September 2022, the outstanding balance of household loansacross all financial sectors fell KRW1.3 trillion (m-o-m). It edged back lower again from the increased one of last month and sustains a stable level overall.Financial authorities will manage to keep the growth rate of household debt stable while making continuous efforts to alleviate financial burdens of low income households and non-speculative homebuyers. (Overall) Household loans across all financial sectors declined KRW1.3 trillion last month. The growth (y-o-y) was 0.6 percent which continued to slow since the second half of 2021. (By Type) Mortgage loans increased at a slower rate than the previous month and other types of loans fell at a faster rate, leading to an overall drop in household loans. - (Mortgage Loans) Mortgage loans rose KRW2.0 trillion in September, growing at a slower rate compared to the previous month (up KRW2.7 trillion), as group lending for new apartment subscription fell from KRW1.2 trillion to KRW0.5 trillion. - (Other Types of Loans) Other types of loans fell KRW3.3 trillion, declining significantly from the previous month (down KRW1.8 trillion), due to a drop in credit loans. (By Sector) Household loans edged back down in both the banking and nonbanking sectors. - (Banking Sector) Banks saw a drop of KRW1.2 trillion in household loans. Mortgage loans from banks grew KRW0.9 trillion,rising at a slower rate than the previous month (up KRW1.6 trillion), as jeonse loans and group lending for new apartment subscription went up KRW0.6 trillion and KRW0.5 trillion, respectively. Other types of loans from banks fell KRW2.1 trillion, declining at a faster rate than the previous month (down KRW1.3 trillion), as credit loans dropped KRW1.8 trillion. - (Nonbanking Sector) In September, nonbanks saw a drop of KRW0.1 trillion in household loans with increases in insurance companies (up KRW0.6 trillion) and savings banks (up KRW0.2 trillion) and declines in mutual finance (down KRW0.5 tri
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Oct 07, 2022
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Sep 29, 2022
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Sep 26, 2022
- KoFIU Unveils H1 2022 Survey Result on Virtual Asset Service Providers
- The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) conducted a survey on 35 registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in order to see the current state of the domestic virtual asset market. Survey Overview (Respondents) 35 VASPs (26 exchange service providers and 9 other businesses) (Survey Method) Collect data from VASPs by paper surveys (Period Covered) January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022 Key Survey Findings for H1 2022 The domestic market for virtual assets in H1 2022 has been downsized significantly compared to that of H2 2021 in terms of market capitalization, trading volume, etc.This seems to be caused by a slowdown in economic activities following the crisis in Ukraine, interest rate hikes and decreasing liquidity as well as falling level of confidence in virtual assets in the wake of the Terra-Luna crash. Total sales profits gained by VASPs stood at KRW630.1 billion, a drop of 62 percent compared to KRW1.6 trillion in H2 2021. According to the survey, the number of virtual assets traded in domestic market was 1,371. When excluding duplicates on multiple exchanges, the number of virtual assets stood at 638, and among them, the number of stand-alone virtual assets listed and traded on a single exchange was 391 (or 61 percent). The proportion (% of market capitalization) of the global top ten virtual assets handled by the KRW-based exchange service providers increased from 41 percent to 47 percent, while the proportion (% of market capitalization) of stand-alone virtual assets increased from 84 percent to 86 percent for the coin-only exchange service providers. About 36 percent of stand-alone virtual assets (or 139 of them) were small-scale in their size with market capitalization of KRW100 million or less. For these small-scale virtual assets, users need to practice caution as they may be prone to abrupt price volatilityand liquidity shortage. As of the end of June 2022, the number of users eligible to trade in virtual assets stood at 6.9 million. The amount
