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Jan 30, 2024
- FSC Holds Meeting and Announces Measures to Upgrade Rules on Treasury Stocks of Listed Companies
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with officials from related authorities, industry groups and research organizations on January 30 to discuss and announce measures to improve rules on treasury stocks of listed companies. The authorities prepared the measures after having a policy seminar on this topic in June last year and drawing opinions from various stakeholders and experts. At the meeting, FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung delivered opening remarks, outlining market participants views on Koreas treasury stock system and proposing measures for improvement. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Kims remarks. Unlike in the U.S. or other advanced markets, treasury shares in Korea have often been utilized for bolstering the control of major shareholders in a company, as opposed to their primary goal of increasing shareholder value. This has been made possible mainly because allocation of new shares is permitted on treasury stocks when companies spin off their business units, so that treasury stocks were used to bolster the control of major shareholders. Moreover, information about treasury stocks has not been made available in the market either in a timely or adequate manner, which presents the potential for damaging the rights and interests of general shareholders. Therefore, to protect the rights and interests of ordinary shareholders in corporate spin-offs, authorities will prohibit allocation of new shares on treasury stocks. In addition, authorities will upgrade rules to ensure a thorough review on the preparation of investor protection measures when a newly established company intends to list on an exchange after the spin-off. In addition, to ensure the provision of transparent information on the acquisition, holding and disposal of treasury stocks, authorities will upgrade rules to require listed companies to disclose in detail when the proportion of their treasury stock holding rises above a certain level and to strengthen disclosure duty fo
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Jan 26, 2024
- FSC Holds 1st Fintech Open Networking Day
- The Financial Services Commission held the first Fintech Open Networking Day on January 26 with fintech businesses, financial companies and investment firms joining along with related organizations. The event was organized to support networking between fintech businesses, financial companies and investment firms in a more systematic way with the need to expand business-to-business (B2B) collaboration with financial companies and facilitate investment through venture capital. The event also offered one-on-one mentoring and other networking and consulting opportunities to early-stage fintech businesses, which may face difficulties and lack experience in dealing with regulatory issues, expanding their businesses overseas or securing investment. During the event, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by ten financial holding companies, banks and fintech industry groups and agreed on fostering a more cooperative business environment, expanding support for fintech incubation, investment and overseas expansion, and holding more fintech-focused advertisement and investment activities. At the event, a total of seven financial companies and four investment firms made presentations on the potential areas of collaboration and investment strategies based on each organizations strength. FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung attended the event and delivered congratulatory remarks highlighting the importance of collaboration between diverse players in the fintech ecosystem. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government will also make continuous efforts to facilitate a revitalization of the fintech industry. The FSC will hold the Fintech Open Networking Day on a biannual basis and plans to provide more networking opportunities through the annually held Korea Fintech Week (expected to be held in August this year) and a series of meetup events organized throughout the year for financial companies and fintech businesses. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jan 25, 2024
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Jan 23, 2024
- FSC Announces a Plan to Improve the Soundness of the Convertible Bond Market
- Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission held a meeting with officials from relevant organizations and industry groups and announced a plan to bolster the soundness of the convertible bond (CB) market on January 23. The measures included in the plan are intended to strengthen rules on disclosure of information on the issuance and distribution of convertible bonds, making improvements to the current refixing rules and procedure, and strengthening investigation over unfair trading activities involving CBs. The FSC expects that these measures will help to address the following three oft-cited problems regarding the CB marketthe lack of transparency in the issuance and circulation of CBs, the arbitrariness in the refixing of convertible prices, and the potential misuse in unfair trading activities. In this regard, the FSC has prepared the following three measures to address these problems, taking into account opinions and suggestions raised during the public seminar held on the topic in last July. First, the disclosure of information about the issuance and circulation of CBs will be strengthened to boost transparency in the market. Authorities will seek to ensure that the types of information that can be critical to the corporate governance structure and share valuation, such as information about the entity designated by the company to exercise the call option and the plan for CB selloff close to maturity, are opened up to the public in a more transparent way. Second, the rules and procedure for refixing convertible prices of CBs will be made more reasonable. Current rules set the minimum level of refixing at 70 percent of the initial convertible price and allow companies to refix convertible prices below the minimum level only in exceptional casese.g. corporate restructuringvia securing a special resolution at a general shareholders meeting or through their articles of incorporation. However, some companies have exploited such exceptions to the ru
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Jan 18, 2024
- Strengthened Penalties on Unfair Trading Activities in Capital Markets Take Effect from January 19
- The Financial Services Commission announced that the revised Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) and its subordinate statutes will go into effect on January 19. The revision deals with (a) introducing a penalty surcharge system on unfair trading activities, (b) legislating a method for calculating the amount of unfairly gained profits, and (c) providing a leniency to those reporting violations committed by oneself or others. The revised rules were prepared through close consultation and discussion with the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Prosecutors Office, the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Exchange. The authorities expect that the changed rules will help to more effectively detect and prevent unfair trading activities and more strictly apply sanctions on illegitimate activities. First, the revision introduces a penalty surcharge system on unfair trading activities and enables authorities to impose a penalty surcharge of up to twice the amount of unfairly gained profits (maximum KRW4 billion when there is no illicit profit made or it is impossible to calculate an amount). Previously, only criminal penalties were available as a method of sanctioning unfair trading activities, which usually took long time to reach a decision by the court with the strict application of burden of proof. With the introduction of penalty surcharge, a speedier and more effective sanctioning will now be possible on unfair trading activities. In terms of the procedure for imposing a penalty surcharge, in principle, the FSC is able to impose a penalty surcharge after receiving an outcome of investigation from the prosecution service. However, when the matter has been consulted with the prosecution service or if it has been more than a year since the case was first reported to the prosecution service, the FSC is allowed to impose a penalty surcharge even before receiving an investigation outcome from the prosecution service. Second, the revision establi
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Jan 18, 2024
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Jan 17, 2024
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Jan 15, 2024
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Jan 15, 2024
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Jan 11, 2024
- FSC Chairman Attends Meeting on Credit Recovery Support
- Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission attended a meeting held at the National Assembly on January 11 on the issue of providing credit recovery support for individuals and small business owners. At the meeting, participants talked about the difficult circumstances experienced by those who have acquired late payment history on loans due to COVID-19, high interest rates and high inflation, even when after they are finished with making payments on their loans due to a prolonged stigma attached to credit delinquency for a certain period of time. In this regard, considering the severity of economic situation, FSC Chairman Kim asked the financial sector to seek active ways to provide credit recovery support as it was previously made available during the similarly difficult times in January 2000, May 2001 and August 2021. More specifically, Chairman Kim asked the financial sector to make assistance available for the borrowers who accrued late payments of maximum KRW20 million between September 2021 and January 2024 and have completely paid up their late payments in full, as an extension of the same credit recovery support measure made available for them since August 2021. In addition, Chairman Kim said that the individual debt restructuring program offered by Credit Counseling Recovery Service needs to be bolstered to take into account the fact that about forty percent of delinquent borrowers are those who are behind their mobile phone bills. In this regard, Chairman Kim added that an integrated and more comprehensive debt restructuring program needs to be made available, joined by telecommunication service providers. The financial sector agreed to finalize a plan on credit recovery support by early next week. The authorities expect that some 2.9 million individuals will benefit from the credit recovery support as their credit delinquency history will be erased from the record. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jan 10, 2024
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Jan 10, 2024
- Household Loans, December 2023
- The outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors went up KRW0.2 trillion in December 2023 (preliminary), showing a significant slowdown in the pace of growth from a month ago (up KRW2.6 trillion). In 2023, household loans increased KRW10.1 trillion across all financial sectors, up 0.6 percent from the end of last year. * Monthly change (in trillion KRW, y-o-y): +5.2 (Jul 2023), +6.1 (Aug), +2.4 (Sep), +6.2 (Oct), +2.6 (Nov), +0.2 (DecP) Annual change (in trillion KRW, y-o-y): +56.2 (2019), +112.3 (2020), +107.5 (2021), -8.8 (2022), +10.1 (2023P) (By Type) In December 2023, mortgage loans rose KRW5.1 trillion, slowing down from a rise of KRW5.6 trillion in the previous month. Other types of loans dropped KRW4.9 trillion, showing an accelerated pace of decline from a month ago (down KRW3.0 trillion). (By Sector) Household loans grew at a slower rate in the banking sector (up KRW5.4 trillion up KRW3.2 trillion), while declining at a faster rate in the nonbanking sector (down KRW2.8 trillion down KRW3.0 trillion). Mortgage loans from banks grew at a slightly slower rate from the previous month (up KRW5.7 trillion up KRW5.2 trillion) due to a suspension in the provision of a certain type of policy mortgage loan. Other types of loans fell KRW2.0 trillion due to the effects of year-end bonuses. Household loans from nonbanks fell KRW3.0 trillion in December 2023. Mutual finance businesses (down KRW1.6 trillion), savings banks (down KRW0.9 trillion), specialized credit finance businesses (down KRW0.5 trillion) and insurance companies (down KRW0.01 trillion) all saw declines in household loans. (Assessment) Household loans turned upward in 2023 from a drop in the previous year due to a recovery in the real estate market. Mostly, the growth was caused by policy mortgage loans extended to non-speculative homebuyers. Compared to previous years, the authorities evaluate that the pace of growth (up KRW10.1 trillion) is kept at a stable level currently. Nonet
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Jan 08, 2024
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Jan 05, 2024
- Authorities Plan to Introduce a Total Platform for Microfinance Assistance Available from June 2024
- Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission visited an inclusive finance support center operated by Korea Inclusive Finance Agency in Seoul on January 5 and held talks on the governments plan for microfinance support for this year with officials from relevant organizations participating. In his opening, Chairman Kim first talked about some of the efforts made by the government to boost assistance for vulnerable groups in the previous year. The size of policy funds supplied for microfinance assistance last year was the largest ever, amounting to some KRW10.7 trillion. Moreover, a total of KRW95.85 billion in small-sum living expense lending assistance was provided to those who lacked any income sources or fell behind debt payments. Along this line, authorities updated various assistance programs to strengthen financial inclusion and made available a comprehensive consulting and counseling program linking supports for employment, social welfare, debt restructuring and so on. For this years microfinance policy plan, Chairman Kim said that the government will focus on boosting convenience for end-users and assisting those in need to regain footing on their own. To this end, the government plans to launch an online total platform for microfinance assistance for operation from the first half of this year. The platform will help to guide users to find the most suitable microfinance products according to each users personal needs and situation and offer one-stop application service as well as the consulting and counseling support program. Developing this platform will mark the first step towards making the provision of microfinance assistance more efficient and user-oriented, since it will provide more personalized and comprehensive search results for comparison, while allowing users to search, compare, choose and apply all from a single platform. In order to tackle challenges facing vulnerable groups, Chairman Kim said that it is important to ensure the avai
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Jan 03, 2024
- FSC Plans to Work on Measures to Improve the Competitiveness of Publicly Offered Funds
- Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission presided over a meeting with officials from related authorities and an industry groupto discuss plans to improve the competitiveness of the publicly offered funds market on January 3. In his opening remarks, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government has never been more serious about making fundamental changes to our capital markets, and that this plan is also a part of the policy drive intended to resolve the issue of Korea discount, the persistent undervaluation of Korean companies in stock markets. In this regard, the proposed plan will focus on nine specific ways to bring about improvements regarding institutions, products and infrastructure, with aims to cut transaction costs, strengthen product marketability and boost transaction convenience. First, the proposed plan intends to bring about improvements from institutions by strengthening the credibility and accountability of fund managers, sellers and related businesses including the fund accounting and administration companies and various ratings companies. Currently, the sales remuneration structure for fund sellers is designed in a way that all fund sellers are paid with fund assets in a uniform way. To boost accountability and competition between fund sellers, the authorities will introduce a more reasonable seller remuneration system (fund class) under which fund sellers will be paid directly from investors with the possibility of having different fee rates for different sellers within the statutory limit of one percent. For these types (or classes) of funds, the seller fee remuneration system can be linked to the performance of funds to boost responsibility of fund sellers. Along this line, the proposed plan will bolster asset managers accountability by requiring them to more regularly conduct evaluations on alternative investment assets and to more accurately advertise fees for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). With increases in demand for more f
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Dec 28, 2023
- Authorities Hold Meeting to Discuss Corporate Debt Workout of Taeyoung Engineering and Construction
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with the related authorities and financial institution on December 28 to discuss measures to help business normalization of Taeyoung Engineering Construction and minimize the impact as the company filed for a debt workout under the Corporate Restructuring Promotion Act today. Since the turmoil in the real estate project financing (PF) market last year, the government has been closely monitoring market developments and financial conditions of major construction companies. Taeyoung EC has been faced with financial difficulties as it was struggling with refinancing its real estate PF loans and asset-backed securities amid global tightening of monetary policies. In particular, unlike other construction companies, it was found that Taeyoung EC had a high proportion of self-performed projects as well as high levels of debt-to-equity ratio and PF loan guarantees. These factors show particular characteristics of Taeyoung EC, which remain different from other companies situations. In this regard, the authorities at the meeting agreed that there is no possibility of a systemic risk across the construction sector or financial market as long as there is no spread of anxiety. Taeyoung EC has already demonstrated self-rescue efforts by coming up with KRW1 trillion on its own and submitted further plans to sell its subsidiaries and other assets. The company is currently working on its debt workout plan with Korea Development Bank, its main creditor bank, which will work on business normalization of Taeyoung EC based on the companys strong commitment to self-rescue efforts. As of the end of September 2023, there were sixty real estate PF development sites under management of Taeyoung EC. Based on the type and the progress of each project, various arrangements and solutions will be employed to either continue to carry out projects or seek restructuring or sale. At the meeting, Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission
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Dec 28, 2023
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Dec 27, 2023
- Stressed Debt Service Ratio Rules to Take Effect in 2024
- The Financial Services Commission announced that the stressed debt service ratio (DSR) rules will take effect in 2024 on all types of loans that have variable, mixed or periodically changing interest rate structures. The stressed DSR system imposes a certain level of additional stress rate when calculating the borrowers DSR as it takes into account the possibility of the borrower facing heavier repayment burdens in the future with increases in interest rates. The additional stress rate will be determined based on the comparison of interest rates between the five-year peak level and the present level (as of May and November of every year). However, to buffer against the possibility of overestimating or underestimating the risk associated with interest rate changes in times or both high and low interest rates, the additional stress rate will be decided between a minimum of 1.5 percent and a maximum of 3.0 percent. For loans with variable interest rates, an additional stress rate of the five-year peak rate minus the present rate will be applied. For loans with mixed interest rate structuresthose with a fixed interest rate for a certain period of time first and changed into a variable interest rate structure thereafterthe longer the period of fixed interest rate structure, the lower the level of additional stress rates. For instance, for 30-year loans, if the period of fixed interest rate is set between five to nine years, the additional stress rate will be applied at a 60 percent level. For the fixed rate terms of nine to fifteen years and fifteen to twenty-one years, the additional stress rate will be applied at a 40 percent level and a 20 percent level, respectively. For loans with periodically changing interest rate structures, additional stress rates will be applied at eased levels. For 30-year loans, if the period of interest rate change is five to nine years, the additional stress rate will be applied at a 30 percent level. For those with nine-to-fifteen-years an
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Dec 26, 2023
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Dec 22, 2023
- Authorities Plan to Set Up Taskforce to Effectively and Flexibly Respond to ELS Market Anxiety
- The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service held a meeting on December 22 to check current situation regarding the sales of Hong Kong index-linked equity-linked securities (ELS) by domestic financial institutions. They have recently been a source of anxiety for investors following sharp declines in Hong Kongs Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI). At the meeting, the authorities reviewed the status of sales of ELS products linked to HSCEI and ways to effectively handle potential loss to investors. As of November 2023, the total volume of Hong Kong index-linked ELS products sold to investors amounted to KRW19.3 trillion. Among them, about 82.1 percent or KRW15.9 trillion were sold by banks. Most of the ELS products considered to be problematic are the ones issued after early 2021 when the HSCEI was at its peak. These ELS products are set to mature in early 2024 with the potential of inflicting loss to investors. To prepare for this possibility of investor loss, the financial authorities have instructed the sellers of these Hong Kong index-linked ELS products to come up with response strategies. In addition, from the end of November 2023, the FSS has been conducting inspections on the twelve major banks and securities firms to closely scrutinize their marketing process, sales incentives and so on. Moreover, to be able to effectively and flexibly deal with various situations arising from potential investor losses, the authorities will set up and operate a taskforce run by the FSS to handle consumer complaints and mediation of conflicts and to carry out inspections and take needed actions on the sellers. At the meeting, FSC Secretary General Lee Se-Hoon said that the authorities will closely communicate with the market to ensure the availability of relevant information needed in the market, so that there is no increase in market anxiety concerning the Hong Kong index-linked ELS products. Secretary General Lee also added that based on the
