Press Releases - Financial Services Commission

Press Releases

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Nov 05, 2024

Disclosure Requirement on Net Short Position Balance to be Strengthened from December 1

The Financial Services Commission announced that a revision bill for the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) was approved by the government at the cabinet meeting held on November 5. This revision intended to strengthen the disclosure requirement on investors net short position balance is part of the comprehensive short sale reform measures announced on June 13, 2024. Pursuant to the revised Enforcement Decree, investors with a net short position balance of 0.01 percent (excluding those with less than KRW100 million) or KRW1 billion or more of total issuance volume will be newly required to disclose their net short position balances from December 1, 2024. Previously, only those with a net short position balance of 0.5 percent or more were subject to the disclosure requirement. Therefore, investors that will newly become subject to the disclosure requirementthose with a net short position balance of 0.01 percent or KRW1 billion or more but less than 0.5 percentwill begin to disclose their net short position balances from December 4. The government and relevant institutions have been working on comprehensive short sale reform measures in order to address the problem of illegal and unfair trading practices. Some of the reform agendas requiring no revision to legislation have already been put into place. On September 27, the supervisory regulation on financial investment businesses was revised to bring down the cash collateral ratio of retail investors when borrowing stocks to 105 percent, which is the same level in place for institutional investors. The reduced cash collateral ratio for retail investors is expected to become effective from March 31, 2025. For market makers and liquidity providers, their stock borrowing period has been already limited to maximum 12 months with 90-day extensions each time through system upgrades made at the securities lending institutions (Korea Securities Depository and Korea Securitie
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Oct 31, 2024

FSC Vice Chairman Visits Germany and Lithuania to Support Overseas Expansion of Korean Financial Services

Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission visited Frankfurt, Germany and Vilnius, Lithuania from October 28 to November 1 in order to seek stronger financial cooperation with the European countries following bilateral summit meetings held in 2023. Meeting with ECB Supervisory Board Member On October 29, Vice Chairman Kim met with the European Central Bank (ECB)s supervisory board member Patrick Montagner to elicit consensus on the scope of cooperation prescribed in the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU) on banking supervision, which is expected to be signed by the end of this year. The agreed upon draft MOU contains provisions detailing cooperation and information exchange on banking supervision between the FSC and the FSS (Financial Supervisory Service) of Korea and the ECB regarding financial companies license application, appointment of directors, sanctions, and recovery and resolution plans (RRPs) upon request by the counterparty. This MOU is expected to help improve the crisis response capacity of both parties and enhance banking supervision through RRPs. After the fine-tuning of the draft MOU, Vice Chairman Kim and Mr. Montagner held talks on policy issues regarding sustainable finance and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial industry. On sustainable finance, both sides had opportunities to share their policy response and how they are dealing with the issue, for instance through climate risk stress test, etc. With regard to the advent of AI technology and its convergence with financial services, both sides agreed on the importance of international cooperation to build a regulatory framework that can help to maximize opportunities while minimizing risks presented by advance technologies. Meeting with Korean financial companies operating in Germany Vice Chairman Kim also held a meeting with a group of Korean financial companies doing business in Germany and had talks on local industry trend, operating condit
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Oct 31, 2024

KoFIU Unveils H1 2024 Survey Result on Virtual Asset Service Providers

The Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) conducted a survey on 21 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) 21 VASPs(14 exchange service providers and 7 wallet and custodian service providers) (Survey Method) Data collected from VASPs (Period Covered) January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024 Key Survey Findings for H1 2024 The domestic market for virtual assets in H1 2024 continues to show an upward trend from H2 2023 with average daily trading volume (up 67%), market capitalization (up 27%), total amount of deposits (up 3%), and number of users eligible to trade (up 21%) all increasing from previous six months. Total operating profits (up 106%) of VASPs also went up significantly. When compared with the survey results of H2 2023, the number of virtual assets listed on exchanges declined due to increased number of coin-only exchange service providers closing down their business operations. The number of new listings by the KRW-based exchange service providers remained the same as previous six months (155), while the number of delistings went up slightly (up 7%). The number of exclusively listed virtual assetsthose tradable via single VASP in the domestic marketdropped considerably (down 14%). Maximum drawdown (price volatility) of virtual assets increased 8 percentage points from the previous six-month period to 70 percent. External transfer of virtual assets by exchange service providers also increased considerably (up KRW36.7 trillion, or 96%). Among them, those transferred to registered entities under the travel rule declined slightly (down 2%p), while those transferred to whitelisted overseas entities and digital wallets rose somewhat (up 1%p). The number of employees hired by VASPs rose 6 percent for KRW-based exchange service providers but fell 51 percent for coin-only exchange service providers due to a higher rate of b
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Oct 16, 2024

Personal Credit Management and Debtor Protection Act Takes Effect from October 17

The Financial Services Commission announced that the newly legislated Personal Credit Management and Debtor Protection Act (the Act hereinafter) will go into effect from October 17. The new legislation passed by the National Assembly at the end of last year was promulgated in January this year, and the Enforcement Decree of the Act was also approved by the government at the cabinet meeting held on October 15, paving the way for implementing the law from October 17. Background So far, the personal delinquent debt management system has been largely dependent on the public sector-driven debt workout process made available through the Credit Counseling and Recovery Service (CCRS) and the courts bankruptcy proceedings, instead of having financial companies taking preventive steps beforehand by entering into negotiations with individual debtors. In this regard, the primary focus of financial companies has been maximizing their debt collection by delegating the function of debt collection activities to third parties or selling off debt to credit businesses. When debtors fail to make repayments on schedule, they become easily exposed to the growing burden of interest payments, which places them at risk of falling into long-term delinquency and facing excessive burden over debt collection. Against this backdrop, the Act was enacted in January this year for implementation from October 17 to help prevent defaults in a preemptive manner, thereby minimizing social costs associated with personal delinquency, and to seek an appropriate balance in terms of the rights and obligations of financial companies and debt collectors on the one hand and individual debtors on the other. In this regard, the Act and its subordinate regulations mainly deal with the following provisions(a) establishing a legal ground for financial companies to provide debt workout service of their own to individual debtors, (b) easing excessive interest burden on late payments, (c) strengthening rules on the sal
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Oct 11, 2024

Household Loans, September 2024

In September 2024, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors rose KRW5.2 trillion (preliminary), growing at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW9.7 trillion). * Change (in trillion KRW, m-o-m): +4.1 (Apr 2024), +5.3 (May), +4.2 (Jun), +5.2 (Jul), +9.7 (Aug), +5.2 (Sep)p (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans rose KRW6.9 trillion, increasing at a slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW8.5 trillion). Mortgage loans in the banking sector also rose at a slower pace from a month ago (up KRW8.2 trillion up KRW6.2 trillion). Other types of loans declined in both the banking (up KRW1.1 trillion down KRW0.5 trillion) and nonbanking (up KRW0.1 trillion down KRW1.2 trillion) sectors. (By Sector) The pace of household loan growth decelerated in both the banking and nonbanking sectors compared with the previous month. In September, banks saw an increase of KRW5.7 trillion in household loans, a slowdown from KRW9.2 trillion a month ago. This is mainly attributable to a slower pace of mortgage loan growth in the banking sector (up KRW8.2 trillion up KRW6.2 trillion), backed by the effects of implementing the second phase stressed debt service ratio (DSR) rule from September and the banking sectors self-driven moves to strengthen household loan management. Other types of loans, such as credit loans, in the banking sector edged down KRW0.5 trillion from the rise of KRW1.1 trillion a month ago. In the nonbanking sector, mortgage loans went up at a faster pace (up KRW0.3 trillion up KRW0.7 trillion) compared with the previous month, but other types of loans fell KRW1.2 trillion from the increase of KRW0.1 trillion a month ago due mainly to the effects of bad debt write-offs at the end of the quarter. Mutual finance businesses (down KRW0.4 trillion), specialized credit finance businesses (down KRW0.4 trillion), and savings banks (down KRW0.2 trillion) saw drops in household loans, while insurance companies (up KRW0.4 trillion)
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Sep 26, 2024

Revisions to FSCMA Expected to Bring About Major Improvements to Short Sale Regulations

The Financial Services Commission announced that a revision bill of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) intended to upgrade rules on short sale was passed by the National Assembly at the plenary session held on September 26. The passage of the revised FSCMA by the National Assembly officially brings within legal purview the short sale reform measures that have been sought by the government since the decision to ban short sale was introduced in November last year amid concerns about frequent occurrences of naked short sale activities and their disruptive effects on markets fair pricing function. Under the revised FSCMA, institutional investors will be required to set up their own electronic short sale processing system, while both institutional and corporate investors will need to prepare relevant internal control standards. For institutional investors, there will be a new restriction on the stock repayment period for borrowed stocks. Monetary penalties that can be imposed on unfair trading and illegal short sale activities will be strengthened, and new sanctions mechanisms will be introducedsuch as a ban on trading financial investment products and restriction from being appointed or serving as an executive at listed companiesto enhance the effectiveness of punishment and sanctions. Background Since the announcement of the short sale reform proposal on June 13 this year, the FSC and related organizations have been swiftly working on follow-up measures. Prior to making revisions to the legislation, authorities have been proactively working to prepare for establishing an electronic short sale processing and monitoring system and limiting the stock repayment period for institutional investors. Since August, the Korea Exchange (KRX) has been working to set up Naked Short-selling Detecting System (NSDS), which is designed to detect and identify naked short sale activities based on the records of short sale orders transmitted by institutional
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Sep 26, 2024

Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum Highlights Sustainable Finance and Capital Market Development

Standing Commissioner Lee Hyung Ju of the Financial Services Commission traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam from September 25 to 26 to attend the Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum, meet with senior officials from the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Securities Commission, and have a meeting with officials from local branches of Korean financial companies operating in Vietnam. Vietnam is Koreas third largest trade partner and it hosts the second largest number of Korean financial companies following the U.S. FSC Standing Commissioners visit this time was aimed at promoting domestic financial companies and policy financial institutions business expansion in Vietnam. Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum On September 25, FSC Standing Commissioner Lee Hyung Ju attended the Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum held in Hanoi under the theme of sustainable finance and capital market development. The forum was jointly sponsored by the FSC and Vietnams State Bank of Vietnam and State Securities Commission. The forum was organized into two parts(a) Towards a Sustainable Future: Enhancing Korea-Vietnam Financial Synergies and (b) Capital Market Development and Transition Finance. In the opening of the first part, Standing Commissioner Lee delivered congratulatory remarks where he introduced various climate finance strategies being pursued by the Korean government, such as the guidelines on K-taxonomy, green bonds and green finance, and ESG disclosure standards. Speaking on the mutually beneficial relationship that has been maintained between Korea and Vietnam since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, Standing Commissioner Lee said that he expects this forum to help build a more future-oriented financial partnership between the two countries. In the second part, Standing Commissioner Lee delivered opening remarks where he introduced Koreas recent capital market reform initiatives and key elements of Corporate Value-up Program. To make sure that growth momen
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Sep 25, 2024

Digital Asset Protection Foundation to be Set Up to Ensure Safe Return of User Funds from Closed Down VASPs

The Financial Services Commission will authorize the digital asset industrys plan to establish an organization that will be charged with the task of protecting users assets (Digital Asset Protection Foundation or the foundation hereinafter) on September 26. The industrys self-regulatory initiative led by the Digital Asset Exchange Association (DAXA) aims to protect the rights and interests of virtual asset users and establish a sound order in market transactions. The foundation will be tasked with receiving users assets transferred out from those closed down exchange service providers after a having consultation process, and then safely keeping and managing these assets, and ultimately returning them to their owners. Background To help minimize potential damages inflicted to users in the event of virtual asset service providers (VASPs) going out of business, financial authorities have made continuous efforts so far to make sure that virtual asset users are able to safety get their assets back even when their service providers go out of business. To this end, authorities introduced guidelines on the business closure of VASPsand conducted site inspections on those exchange service providers that are no longer in operation. However, despite these efforts, there are continuing concerns about the protection of users assets due to the lengthy process of returning assets to their owners. Currently, ten out of twenty-two coin market exchange operators have terminated their business operations and three others have suspended operating their businesses. For most of these companies that have gone out of business, it is practically difficult to resume or continue to run their business operation even with assistance from others. It is also difficult to assume that those closed down exchange service providers will be able to return users assets even with continuing inputs of human and financial resources. Moreover, private keys to users virtual asset wallets are stored at these e
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Sep 24, 2024

Revised Rules on Microfinance Support Expected to Increase Availability of Funds for Inclusive Finance

The Financial Services Commission announced that a revision bill for the Enforcement Decree of the Microfinance Support Act was approved by the government at the cabinet meeting held on September 24. This revision bill is aimed at ensuring stable foundations for supplying microfinance assistance to vulnerable groups as the need to provide policy-based microloan products has been growingagainst the backdrop of the continuation of challenging economic conditions, such as high interest rates and high prices. In this regard, the revised rules will temporarily (a) increase the common rate of microfinance contributions financial companies are required to make, while (b) offering an incentive of reduction in the differential contribution amounts (which are determined by financial companies subrogation rates) to those making active efforts in supplying policy-based microloan products. First, the common rate of microfinance contributions financial companies make in relation to the size of their household loans, which currently stands at 0.03 percent, will be increased by 0.005 percentage points for banks to 0.035 percent and by 0.015 percentage points for insurance companies, mutual finance businesses, specialized credit finance businesses, and savings banks to 0.045 percent. The increased common contribution rates will be in place until December 31, 2025. This is expected to help expand the availability of funds for guarantees intended to supply policy-based microfinance assistance. Second, financial companies that are making active efforts in supplying policy-based microloan products will be eligible to receive a reduction in the amount of microfinance contributions they are required to make in relation to their subrogation rates (differential contribution rates) on a temporary basis until December 31, 2025. It aims to lower financial companies burden of differential contribution amounts, which are determined by their subrogation rates, for those with outstanding records i
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Sep 11, 2024

Household Loans, August 2024

In August 2024, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors rose KRW9.8 trillion (preliminary), growing at a steep pace compared with the previous month (up KRW5.2 trillion). * Change (in trillion KRW, m-o-m): -4.9 (Mar 2024), +4.1 (Apr), +5.3 (May), +4.2 (Jun), +5.2 (Jul), +9.8 (Aug)p (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans rose KRW8.5 trillion, expanding at a significantly faster pace compared with the previous month (up KRW5.4 trillion). Other types of loans increased KRW1.3 trillion, with banks (down KRW0.1 trillion up KRW1.1 trillion) and nonbanks (down KRW0.1 trillion up KRW0.2 trillion) both experiencing a shift back up from the drops seen a month ago. (By Sector) Household loans grew at a much faster pace in the banking sector and turned back up from the previously declining trend in the nonbanking sector. In August, banks saw an increase of KRW9.3 trillion, a steep rise from the previous month (up KRW5.4 trillion). This was mainly attributable to an expansion of mortgage loans (up KRW5.6 trillion up KRW8.2 trillion) led by strong housing market activities in the Seoul metropolitan area. Other types of loans turned back up from a drop in the previous month (down KRW0.1 trillion up KRW1.1 trillion) mainly led by a rise in credit loans. In the nonbanking sector, household loans edged up from the decline seen a month ago as mortgage loans (down KRW0.1 trillion up KRW0.3 trillion) and other types of loans (down KRW0.1 trillion up KRW0.2 trillion) all increased. Specialized credit finance businesses (up KRW0.7 trillion) and savings banks (up KRW0.4 trillion) continued to see growth, while mutual finance businesses maintained the declining trend (down KRW1.0 trillion). Insurance companies saw a rise of KRW0.3 trillion from the decline seen a month ago. (Assessment) Household loans rose steeply in August compared with the previous month due to strong housing market transactions in the Seoul metropolitan area, large demand from borrowers pri
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Sep 09, 2024

Regulatory Improvements Proposed for Payment Gateway Services in Wake of Recent E-commerce Payment Failures

The Financial Services Commission announced a set of measures intended to improve regulations on electronic payment settlement agency services (payment gateway or PG services) on September 9. The proposed measures are aimed at preventing the recurrence of payment delays involving PG services recently seen in the large-scale e-commerce payment failures. The measures have been prepared after coordinating with related government ministries and collecting opinions from experts. First, there will a measure to safely protect the total amount of unsettled payments from PG services. To ensure stability in the payment and settlement system, PG services will be required to separately manage the total amount (100 percent) of unsettled funds in the form of deposit, trust, or payment guarantee insurance, and inform this to sellers when entering into an agreement and disclose this information on their website. However, considering the burden of regulatory compliance, there will be a grace period and the separate management requirement will be phased in graduallyfor instance, 60 percent of unsettled funds during the first year of implementation, 80 percent for the second year, and 100 percent for the third year. In addition, unsettled funds being separately managed shall not be allowed for a transfer or to be used as a collateral, or put up for confiscation or setoff by a third party. Moreover, a priority right to payments will be introduced to ensure safe protection of unsettled funds even when PG services become bankrupt. Second, there will be practical management and supervisory mechanisms designed to encourage sound operation of PG services. Since there currently exist no legal means to enforce PG services to comply with operational guidelines even when there is noncompliance, regulatory tools (corrective order, business suspension, and revocation of registration) will be introduced to enable financial authorities to take actions against noncompliance when there is a failure t
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Sep 04, 2024

FSC Chairman Visits Japan to Strengthen Financial Cooperation and Promote Corporate Value-up Program

Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) traveled to Tokyo, Japan on his first overseas business trip since taking office in July 2024. On September 3, Chairman Kim had a meeting with the Commissioner of Japans Financial Services Agency (FSA), visited Japanese companies that have disclosed their value-up plans in Japan, and held talks with officials from Korean financial companies operating in Japan. Meeting with FSA Commissioner Since the financial authorities of Korea and Japan resumed their shuttle meeting for the first time in seven years in December last year at the 7th bilateral meeting held in Seoul, new leadership has been appointed at both organizations in July this year. Commissioner Ito Hideki of Japans Financial Services Agency (FSA) took office on July 5, and Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of Koreas Financial Services Commission took office on July 31. On September 3, the new leaders of Korea and Japans financial authorities held a meeting at Japans FSA to exchange opinions on recent financial market developments and related issues and discuss ways to strengthen mutual cooperation. First, both leaders shared a common view on the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation to more effectively cope with volatility in global financial markets. Since monetary policies and economic situations in major economies, such as the U.S., E.U., and Japan, are reaching an inflection point, and as there are multiple variables that can have a significant impact on the global economy, such as the U.S presidential elections, both leaders agreed that there may be growing volatility in global financial markets in the future. As it was evident in the global stock market rout experienced in early August caused by fears of a recession in the U.S., both leaders assessed that financial market anxiety can erupt anytime if market participants overreact and if there is too much herd behavior. In order to respond to market volatility in a timely manner, both leader
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Sep 03, 2024

Revised Rules on Electronic Financial Transactions to Take Effect from September 15

The Financial Services Commission announced that the government approved a revision bill for the Enforcement Decree of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act at the cabinet meeting held on September 3. Together with the previously amended Act on Electronic Financial Transactions (approved on September 14, 2023), the revised rules will help to close the regulatory loophole on electronic prepayment means and strengthen protection for advance payments made for electronic prepayment means. The revised rules on electronic financial transactions are scheduled to take effect from September 15. First, under the revised rules, prepayment service providers are required to separately manage the total amount (100 percent or more) of advance payments made by their customers, thereby strengthening protection for users. In addition, to prevent prepayment service providers from issuing advance payments at discounted rates in excessive levels, the revised rules will only allow them to issue advance payments at discounted rates or offer rewards points only when their debt ratio is 200 percent or below. In this case, the total amount of advance payments required to be separately managed by prepayment service providers includes the amount of monetary benefits offered to customers (discounts and rewards). Advance payments managed separately in the form of a trust or a payment guarantee insurance need to be managed only through investment in safe assets, such as Korea Treasury bonds and local government bonds, or through deposits at banks and Korea Post. The revised rules also make sure that customers are able to get refunds even when their prepayment service providers go bankrupt. In this case, the prepayment service provider will provide relevant information about refunds to the entity in charge of managing advance payments to facilitate the reimbursement of funds to customers. Second, under the revised rules, the scope of prepayment service providers that are subject to the user pr
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Aug 27, 2024

2024 Korea Fintech Week Kicks Off on August 27

2024 Korea Fintech Week kicks off on August 27 with major fintech businesses, financial companies, related organizations, academic institutions, and foreign governments and organizations at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. The expo will be held for three days between August 27 to 29 under the theme of Beyond Boundaries: Fintech and AI Redefining Finance, providing opportunities to lure investment and share updates on the newest fintech and AI technologies and trends. 85 exhibition booths and 109 businesses and associations will participate to promote innovative technologies and attract investments Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission delivered welcoming remarks in which he emphasized the importance of AI as a game changer for industries and society, and how we harness AI will determine the competitiveness of individuals and companies in the future. Chairman Kim vowed to support the finance industry so that it could play a leading role in propelling Korea into the top three nations in AI sector. Chairman Kim outlined four key directions for digital finance policies aimed at facilitating fintech and the digital transformation (DX) of the financial sector. First, he emphasized the need to revisit financial regulations established in the analog era to accelerate the digital transformation of finance. This will involve rationalizing entry and conduct regulations for financial companies, as well as standards for information processing, such as cloud usage. Second, Chairman Kim highlighted the importance of strengthening collaboration between fintech companies and financial companies. To this end, the regulations on financial institutions investments in fintech businesses will be re-evaluated, and discussions will begin on reforming the regulatory framework governing outsourcing agreements, as well as improving the electronic financial systems, to allow the emergence of diverse business models in the era of big blur. Third, Chairman Kim anno
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Aug 20, 2024

FSC Chairman Meets with Banking Sector and Holds Talks on Financial Stability and Sustainable Growth

Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission met with the heads of 19 banks and held talks on the importance of managing risks to ensure financial stability and seeking innovative ways to promote sustainable growth on August 20. Starting with todays meeting with the banking sector, Chairman Kim will meet with each financial sector to have discussions and exchange views on the four major risks facing the Korean economy, such as household debt, small business debt, real estate project finance debt, and the soundness of the nonbanking sector. In his opening remarks, Chairman Kim talked about the need to (a) preemptively manage the pace of household debt growth through concerted efforts of the banking sector and the government, (b) more systematically manage lending to small businesses based on their repayment capabilities, (c) pursue regulatory reforms to bring about change and promote innovation in banks operating practices, which have traditionally relied on interest rate spreads and domestic operations, and (d) continue to work on strengthening internal control mechanisms through the introduction of a responsibilities mapping system from January next year. In particular, with regard to the measures to control the pace of household debt growth, Chairman Kim stressed the need for banks to establish their own household debt management systems in a self-regulating manner based on the repayment capability (debt service ratio) of borrowers. To this end, Chairman Kim said that the following measures will be put into practice from September 1 for implementing the second phase stressed DSR rules. First, beginning on September 1, the second phase stressed DSR rules will take effect as announced previously, but mortgage loans for houses in the Seoul metropolitan area will be subject to an increased stress rate of 1.2%p, instead of 0.75%p. Second, from September, banks will be required to calculate DSR on all household loans for the purpose of internal manageme
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Aug 13, 2024

FSC Introduces Roadmap to Make Improvements to Network Separation in Financial Industry

The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with private sector experts, financial industry groups, and officials from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and Financial Security Institute (FSI) and introduced a roadmap to bring about improvements to network separation in the financial industry on August 13. After having a series of meetings with financial companies and operating a taskforce to gather opinions from cybersecurity experts, related industries, and organizations, the FSC has prepared a set of measures to improve upon the current regulatory system on network separation and ways to upgrade rules on financial data security. Background The current requirement of network separation has been pointed out as a source of inefficiency and an obstacle for research and development projects for financial companies in their use of new technologies. In particular, with the rapid transition of software into a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) and the growing importance of generative artificial intelligence (AI), network separation may not only present a source of inconvenience but also stand in the way of boosting competitiveness of the financial industry. Therefore, after ten years of introducing the rule on network separation, the FSC plans to seek a paradigm shift for finding an appropriate balance between innovation and security by upgrading outmoded regulations and overhauling rules and regulations on financial data security over a medium- to long-term. Resolving Regulatory Hurdles through Regulatory Sandbox Program Considering that the current regulatory system on financial data security has been built on an intranet network environment, authorities will seek to ease relevant regulations gradually and in stages. While seeking to promptly resolve regulatory hurdles through the regulatory sandbox program, authorities will prepare sufficient levels of safety mechanisms to ensure cyber and information security until a self-regulating and autonomous dat
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Aug 12, 2024

Household Loans, July 2024

In July 2024, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors rose KRW5.3 trillion (preliminary), growing at a faster rate compared with the previous month (up KRW4.2 trillion). * Change (in trillion KRW, m-o-m): -1.9 (Feb 2024), -4.9 (Mar), +4.1 (Apr), +5.3 (May), +4.2 (Jun), +5.3 (Jul)p (By Type) Home-backed mortgage loans rose KRW5.4 trillion, growing at a slower rate compared with the previous month (up KRW6.0 trillion), as banks saw a smaller increase in mortgage loans (up KRW6.2 trillion up KRW5.6 trillion). Other types of loans fell KRW0.2 trillion with declines seen in both the banking (down KRW0.3 trillion down KRW0.1 trillion) and nonbanking (down KRW1.5 trillion down KRW0.1 trillion) sectors. However, the pace of the decline decelerated compared with the previous month (down KRW1.8 trillion). (By Sector) Household loans expanded at a slower rate in the banking sector and declined at a slower rate in the nonbanking sector. In July, banks saw an increase of KRW5.5 trillion in household loans, a drop from KRW5.9 trillion in the previous month. The decline was led by the slowdown in mortgage loans (up KRW6.2 trillion up KRW5.6 trillion) as group lending for new apartment subscription fell KRW2.0 trillion from a rise of KRW0.1 trillion a month ago. Other types of loans declined at a slower rate compared with the previous month (down KRW0.3 trillion down KRW0.1 trillion). In the nonbanking sector, household loans declined at a significantly slower rate compared with a month ago (down KRW1.7 trillion down KRW0.2 trillion), due mainly to a base effect from the previous month. Mutual finance businesses (down KRW1.2 trillion) and insurance companies (down KRW0.02 trillion) continued to see declines, while specialized credit finance companies (up KRW0.8 trillion) and savings banks (up KRW0.2 trillion) saw increases. (Assessment) Household loans have been on an upward trajectory since April this year led by policy loans and mortgage loans from
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Aug 12, 2024

FSC Chairman Holds Meeting with Listed Companies to Boost Corporate Value-up Efforts

Chairman Kim Byoung Hwan of the Financial Services Commission held a meeting with a group of listed companies and related organizations to boost their efforts to participate in the Corporate Value-up Program on August 12. Together with related organizations, Chairman Kim said that the FSC will provide active support to promote companies self-driven efforts to participate in the Corporate Value-up Program. Todays meeting was joined by three companies (Kiwoom Securities Co., Meritz Financial Group Inc., and HK inno.N Corp.) that have already filed a voluntary disclosure or issued a prior notice of disclosure for their value-up plans and five other listed companies. Key officials from the Korea Exchange, Korea Listed Companies Association, KOSDAQ Listed Companies Association, Korea Financial Investment Association, and the value-up programs advisory group also attended the meeting. The following is a summary of FSC Chairman Kims remarks at the meeting. Regarding last weeks stock market volatility, the financial authorities are well aware of the concern about the relatively large fall experienced by our stock market and the slow pace of its recovery. In order to make our stock market more robust and resilient, it is important to boost participation in the Corporate Value-up Program, so that we can enhance the competitiveness of listed firms and the stock market. Moreover, making improvements to our capital market through the Corporate Value-up Program is also important from the perspective of seeking to transform our economic structure from the current debt-reliant model to an equity-centered approach. Making improvements to the current debt-dependent structure of our economy will help to make our economy more dynamic, enhance stability, and contribute to sustainable growth. Since introducing the outline of support measures for the Corporate Value-up Program in February this year, the government has worked to swiftly implement follow-up measures. The authorities will co
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Aug 08, 2024

FSC Vice Chairman Speaks on Strengthening Sanctions against Unfair Trading Activities in Capital Market

The Financial Services Commission announced that a policy seminar on ways to strengthen sanctions against unfair trading activities in capital market was held by the Korea Exchange (KRX) and Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI) on August 8. Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission attended the seminar and delivered congratulatory remarks. In his speech, Vice Chairman Kim outlined the governments past efforts and progress so far and plans to introduce more diverse sanctions mechanisms targeted at unfair trading activities. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Kims remarks. In order to more effectively detect and strictly punish unfair trading activities, the government has worked to improve the capital market investigation regimes and bolster sanctions, while boosting incentives for reporting. In this regard, first, a well-coordinated investigation network has been established among related agencies, enabling frequent inter-agency sharing of information about ongoing investigations. Second, against the three major types of unfair trading activities, which include the use of material nonpublic information, price manipulation, and dishonest transactions, imposing penalty surcharges has now become available as a sanctions mechanism. Third, incentives for whistleblowers has been increased to encourage wrongdoers and wrongdoing to be reported. However, the existing sanctions mechanisms have limits in effectively dealing with the ever evolving and complex patterns of unfair trading activities. The current sanctions mechanisms, which focus on criminal punishment and monetary penalty, often take long times to arrive at a final court sentence and are rather ineffective at preventing recidivism. Major overseas economies, such as the U.S. and Hong Kong, have adopted non-monetary sanctions mechanisms to combat unfair trading activities. After closely studying these cases from overseas, the government is seeking to introduce more diverse sanctions me
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Aug 06, 2024

Financial Support Programs Available for Enterprises Affected by E-commerce Payment Delays

The Financial Services Commission announced that the previously announced KRW560 billion-plus financial support programs intended to help the sellers affected by recent payment delays at e-commerce platforms will begin to be provided from August 7. As of the end of July, the volume of missed payments by e-commerce platforms (TMON and WeMakePrice) stood at about KRW274.5 billion. As the size of delayed payments is expected to grow in the future, authorities will also consider expanding the size of assistance if it becomes necessary. First, from August 7, sellers that have been hit by payment delays can apply for maturity extension and payment deferment on existing business loans and guarantees for up to one year. In addition, from August 7, the support for maturity extension and payment deferment will also be made available for accounts receivable loans offered by three banks (Shinhan, KB Kookmin, and SC Banks). Second, the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) will make available guaranteed loans worth KRW300 billion-plus. Individual businesses are eligible to apply for up to KRW3 billion. The application review process will be streamlined for those seeking to get up to KRW300 million. KODIT will begin to accept application for guarantees from August 9. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will also make available financing support worth about KRW200 billion at low interest rates through Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) and Small Enterprise and Market Service (SEMAS). Third, the government, related organizations, and industry groups will continue to operate an emergency response team to make sure that the financial support programs are effectively operated and proper consulting can be provided to those needed. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
Attachment 1