Press Releases - Financial Services Commission

Press Releases

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Mar 31, 2021

Improving Rules on Credit Business to Expand Financing Opportunities for Lower Income Groups

The FSC announced its plans to improve rules on credit business to make sure that financing opportunities are sufficiently provided to lower income groups even after the four percentage point reduction in maximum legal lending rate takes effect in July. Along the same line, the authorities will continue to work on the measures to stamp out illegal predatory lending as planned. Key Measures I. Lowering fees to help reduce lending costs The maximum brokerage fees will be lowered by one percentage point. For loans of up to KRW5 million, the fee will be reduced from four percent to three percent. For loans in excess of KRW5 million, the current fee of KRW200,000 plus three percent of the amount in excess of KRW5 million will be reduced to KRW150,000 plus two percent of the amount in excess of KRW5 million. II. Easing Regulations on Selective Credit Businesses Among the registered entities, the authorities will select credit businesses that have no records of violating regulations and are focused on lending to lower income groups to offer them an array of regulatory incentives with the aim of ultimately making more credit lending opportunities available to lower income groups. The incentives will include fundraising opportunities through banks, allowing their loan services to be put up on online loan brokerage platforms along with the mainstream loans and increasing the total asset threshold from the current tenfold of equity capital. III. Improving Efficiency in Consumer Protection through Tightened Supervision Regulatory supervision will be strengthened to close loopholes in consumer protection. For the registered entities, the authorities will seek to introduce new monetary sanctions in place of the current three-month suspension of business operation, prevent unfair lending contracts by strengthening supervision on loan agreements and newly create a registration qualification that requires credit businesses to maintain a minimum number of regular employees. Other mea
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Mar 30, 2021

FSC Announces Plans to Improve and Diversify Microfinance Services

The FSC announced plans to expand and diversify microfinance opportunities for individuals with low credit backgrounds on March 30 as a follow-up to the announcement on the revised maximum legal lending rate that is scheduled to go into effect from July 7. Key Details I. Expanding Microfinance Opportunities - Temporarily provide KRW300 billion in alternative lending options for those who currently use loans with interest rates above the twenty percent threshold - Provide a two percent reduction in interest rates for Sunshine Loan 17and expand incentives for those paying back diligently - Increase the availability of Sunshine Loan Youth by KRW100 billion and temporarily provide KRW5 million in lump-sum payment to new users - Improve the employment-based microloan product for individuals with low credit standing and low income II. Introducing New Microfinance Opportunities - Expand the contribution base (which is currently limited to mutual finance and savings banks only) and establish a steady fundraising structure for microfinance services by opening up the scope of contributors to all financial sectors including banks, insurers, credit finance firms, etc. - Launch a new banking sector-based microloan product (Sunshine Loan Bank) which will help build a bridge to the mainstream finance sector through credit score improvements, etc. - Launch a new credit finance sector-based microloan product (Sunshine Loan Card) which will help improve convenience for those with low credit standing III. Improving Effectiveness of Microfinance - Strengthen connection between microfinance and welfare, employment and debt adjustment programs - Strengthen connection between microfinance and financial education, credit debt management consulting, etc. -Strengthen connection between microfinance and the automatic dormant account inquiry system, etc. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 30, 2021

Authorities to Closely Monitor Illegal and Suspicious Activities Linked to Property Market Speculation

Vice Chairman Doh Kyu-sang presided over the kick-off meeting of the special financial response team on March 30 as a part of the government-wide effort to root out speculation in the real estate market. The financial response team will be chaired by the Vice Chairman of the FSC and made up of about one hundred officials from the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), Financial Supervisory Service, Korean Federation of Banks and Korea Credit Information Services. It will serve as a financial sector control tower in the governments efforts to prevent speculation in the real estate market. More specifically, the special financial response team will carry out inspections on lending practices, suspicious transactions and so on while also looking into areas for regulatory improvements. At the meeting, Vice Chairman Doh stated that controlling speculation in the property market remains one of the top priorities of the financial sector and laid out following agendas for the operation of the team. First, the authorities will carry out inspections on existing loans that are suspected to be linked to speculation and report immediately to the investigative authority upon finding any unlawful activities. Second, in close coordination with the real estate market monitoring agency that is soon to be established, the authorities will set up a monitoring system that targets particular regions and financial institutions with sudden hikes in suspected cases. Until then, the KoFIU will maintain close monitoring and share relevant information with the investigative authority. Third, there will be stringent penalties without exception when violations are found in the process of issuing land loans. Fourth, the authorities will work to improve the relevant rules on non-housing mortgage loans and include the measures in the household debt management plan that is expected to be announced in April. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 30, 2021

New Regulations on Stock Short Selling to Take Effect from April 6

The government approved the revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) during a cabinet meeting held on March 30. The amendments and the revised FSCMAwill take effect on April 6. (Penalty standards) The revised FSCMA created the imposition of penalty surcharges on illegal short sale activities. Specific amounts for monetary sanctions will be determined through comprehensive consideration of the total amount of short orders and profits gained from the illegal short sale activity. (Record keeping requirement on securities lending agreements) The revised FSCMA requires short sellers to keep their securities lending agreements for five years to be presented promptly to the relevant authorities upon request. As such, the Enforcement Decree will be revised to prescribe specific criteria to be maintained, including information on stock items, number of shares, transaction dates, counterparties, lending periods, fee rates, etc. It also requires the maintenance of transactions data stored in an electronic transaction processing platform or other format that is not susceptible for alteration. (Restriction on short sellers participation in capital increase) The revised FSCMA restricts short sellers from participating in a companys capital increase via issuing new shares once the company has made such a plan public, except in certain cases. As such, the Enforcement Decree will be revised to determine a specific time period wherein the short sellers participation in capital increase is restricted as well as specific cases for exception as specified below. If an investor has shorted a companys stocks during the restriction period, the investor cannot participate in the companys capital increase, except for the cases where the short selling is deemed to have no unjust effects on the issuing price as stated below. - Restriction Period: From one day after the disclosure of the companys capital increase plan until the dete
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Mar 30, 2021

Maximum Legal Lending Rate to be Lowered from 24% to 20% from July 7

The FSC announced that the maximum legal lending rate will be lowered from the current twenty-four percent to twenty percent starting from July 7 this year as the government approved the amendments to the relevant lawsduring a cabinet meeting held on March 30. In order to minimize the possibility of negative impact on individuals with low credit scores, the FSC plans to make available a sufficient level of microfinancing opportunities to vulnerable groups, improve rules on credit businesses while working to prevent illegal predatory lending practices and work to expand the supply of mid-range interest rate loans to borrowers with low credit standing. Financial institutions and credit businesses are encouraged to reduce their lending rates in excess of the twenty percent limit on a voluntary basis. The authorities will closely monitor the lending rates while working to inform the public about the change in the maximum lending rate. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 29, 2021

FSC Chairman Vows Continued Support for SMEs

FSC Chairman Eun Sung-soo visited the newly opened financial support center at the Korea Federation of SMEs on March 29 and held talks on the governments efforts in providing financial support to SMEs. The following is a summary of Chairman Euns remarks. The government has made various types of financial support available for SMEs and small merchants. It has abolished the joint and several liability by state-backed lending institutions and strengthened the provision of venture capital to promising SMEs and venture firms. To help with the COVID-19 crisis, maturity extensions and payment deferrals were made available from all financial sectors since April of last year. The recently announced six-month extension of maturity extension and payment deferral as well as the governments plan for a gradual normalization have taken into account various comments from SMEs and small merchants. As such, the authorities will work to ensure that these support measures are effectively implemented. For SMEs, there are growing concerns over deterioration in borrowing conditions, as their credit ratings will reflect last years decreased sales performance which may cause higher borrowing rates. To help mitigate these concerns, the authorities are in close consultation with the financial sectors. First, for SMEs undergoing a temporary hardship due to a worsening of business environment but are expected to bounce back soon after, their potential for recovery will be sufficiently taken into account when assessing their credit ratings. Second, for SMEs experiencing an unavoidable fall in credit rating, the authorities will work to minimize the impact on their maximum borrowing cap, interest rate, etc. Moreover, the government will work on measures to prepare for a post-pandemic economy. To help relieve the payment burdens after the expiration of maturity extension and payment deferral, consulting services will be provided to SMEs and small merchants to allow long-term installment payments b
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Mar 29, 2021

Financial Authorities to Strengthen Monitoring and Detection of Fraudulent Activities

The FSC held a meeting on the prevention of fraudulent and illegitimate activities in financial services with the relevant institutions on March 26 and discussed ways to strengthen prevention, detection and punishment of fraudulent activities and to improve consumer remedies. The authorities decided to set a special response period from March 29 to June 30 this year in order to strengthen monitoring and detection of fraudulent activities. The government will also continue to work on improving regulations through legislative efforts. Key Tasks (Investment Advising via Social Media) Carry out a joint monitoring and inspection on stock investment advising activities that utilize social networking services and operate special investigation teams focusing on particular stock items (Fundraising Conducted by Unregistered Entities) Expand the scope of punishable activities to include the act of providing disinformation on illegitimate financial products and misrepresenting them as legitimate and of promising a profit on illegitimate products (Vishing) Strengthen prevention and detection of vishing scams through a closely coordinated information sharing system between the relevant institutions and send out public alerts about new vishing scams (Illegal Predatory Lending) Provide support to the victims of illegal predatory lending by helping to recover interest payments in excess of the maximum interest rate that is permitted by the law * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 25, 2021

FSC to Closely Monitor Market Situations and Gradually Roll Back Crisis Response Measures

Vice Chairman Doh Kyu-sang held the 37th financial risk assessment meeting via teleconference on March 25 and discussed the progress in the implementation of the COVID-19 financial support for small merchants and SMEs. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Dohs remarks. (Pandemic Response Measures) In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government implemented a KRW175 trillion-plus emergency financial support package to provide support for small merchants and SMEs, stabilize financial markets and help businesses in key industries with liquidity shortages. Thanks to the active support shown by the financial institutions, markets quickly bounced back and financial difficulties experienced by small merchants and other vulnerable groups began to ease. On the Korean governments bold response to the crisis situation, the IMF in January this year released a positive assessment, and the OECDs recent growth forecast expects Korea to achieve a full recovery within this year. Bold and preemptive responses were effective given that the scale of policy response had to exceed market expectation at a time when extreme anxieties were spreading across markets. However, with signs of an economic recovery in the US, inflation expectations have been rising as well as the long-term bond yields. In this regard, the government will closely monitor market situations and work on preemptive management to prepare for a possible rate hike in domestic markets. In addition, there have been growing concerns about inappropriate trading activities in stock markets. There are active discussions going on in this regard at the National Assembly to strengthen penalties on unfair and inappropriate trading activities, such as price rigging. The government will closely cooperate with the relevant institutions to work on the prevention of inappropriate trading activities. (Maturity Extension Payment Deferral) Since April 1 of last year, all financial institutions made available maturity extensions
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Mar 24, 2021

FSCMA Revisions for Improving Rules on PEFs Passed by the National Assembly

The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea passed the amendments to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act during a plenary session on March 24, with aims to improve the rules on private equity funds. The amendments will go through an approval process at a cabinet meeting prior to the pronouncement and will take effect six months thereafter. The amendments introduce stronger protection measures for retail investors in the PEF market. The amendments to the FSCMA passed by the National Assembly represent an integrated version of various proposals and are the result of the governments efforts to improve rules on PEFs and strengthen investor protection with high-risk investment products. The FSC will work on revising lower regulations to achieve the intended goals. Key Revisions I. New PEF Classification The current PEF classification system that places distinctions between the professional investment type and the management participation type based on the purpose of fund management will be changed. The new classification system will place distinctions depending on the scope of investment entities. II. Safeguards for Retail Investors The revised FSCMA contains stronger safeguards for retail investors making investments in general PEFs as follows. - PEF sellers will be required to check whether the PEFs they sold are being managed by management firms according to their prospectus requirements. - PEF trust agencies, such as banks and prime brokerage service providers, will be subject to tighter monitoring requirements on PEFs. - PEFs with certain sizeswill be subject to external audits to help improve the fairness in valuation while all PEF management firms will be required to provide quarterly asset management reports to investors. - Stronger liquidity management measures will be introduced to prevent maturity mismatches, etc. III. PEF Management Rules The rules governing the management of both general PEFs and institution-only PEFs will be identic
Mar 24, 2021

Application Opens for Participating Businesses to the 2021 Korea Fintech Week

The FSC announced that the application for the 3rd Korea Fintech Week will be open from March 24 to April 7 for prospective businesses wishing to showcase their innovative fintech services. The 2021 Korea Fintech Week is scheduled to be held from May 26 to 28 under the theme of fintech and sustainable financial innovation. The offline to online (O2O) international fintech expo will provide diverse promotional, vocational, educational and networking programs and opportunities that will help raise awareness on fintechs and accelerate financial innovation. The event will feature five online exhibition halls and two online job fair halls. More than one hundred fintech firms will be given opportunities to present their services in five virtual exhibition hallsthe fintech start-up hall, fintech scale-up hall, fintech supporter hall, financial enterprise hall and global enterprise hall. The online job fair halls will be hosted by some forty business entities and include both financial companies and fintechs. While there are no participation fees, participating businesses need to prepare their own digital promotional materials. Application will be accepted from 9:00 am Wednesday, March 24 until 6:00 pm Wednesday, April 7. Prospective participants should download the application form from www.fintech.or.kr and submit their applications along with supporting materials via email at fintechweek@fintech.or.kr. The selection results will be announced on Friday, April 16 at www.fintech.or.kr. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 18, 2021

Revised Rules on PEFs to Bolster Investor Protection and Enhance Regulatory Supervision

The FSC approved the revisions to the regulation on financial investment services on March 17 as a follow-up measure to the effort to improve the regulatory framework on private equity funds announced on April 27, 2020.The revised rules will go into effect from March 18, 2021 unless otherwise noted below. Key Revisions a) Strengthen rules on the management of cross trading and leveraged schemes, such as total return swaps (TRS) b) Strengthen oversight over inappropriate sales practices by prohibiting the management of PEFs in violation of prospectus requirements c) Bolster the minimum equity capital requirement for professional PEF management firms d) Require asset management firms to report compliance on their internal control and risk management duties and expand their reporting duties on PEFs to include risks and risk management status * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 17, 2021

New Legislation on Financial Consumer Protection to Take Effect from March 25

The FSC approved the supervisory regulation on financial consumer protection on March 17 as a necessary final step for the implementation of the newly enacted Financial Consumer Protection Act beginning on March 25, 2021. The implementation of the Financial Consumer Protection Act will (a) expand the application of the six major sales regulations to all financial products, (b) require financial institutions to set up internal control standards for consumer protection, (c) introduce punitive fines of up to KRW100 billion as well as tougher criminal penalties, (d) expand consumer rights for subscription withdrawal and cancellation of unfair and illegitimate contracts, and (e) strengthen measures for consumer remedies. Although the new law will go into effect from March 25, certain aspects of the measures that require more preparation, such as setting up internal control standards or system development, the application of new regulations will be deferred for six months. In the meantime, the authorities plan to hold a series of information sessions to make sure that both the consumers and financial businesses across different sectors are well informed about the specifics of the new law. The financial authorities will continue to provide support and work to ensure a smooth implementation of the new law on financial consumer protection. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 16, 2021

AML Requirements of Virtual Asset Service Providers to Take Effect from March 25

The FSC announced that the revised rule that mandates AML duties on virtual asset service providers (VASPs) will go into effect on March 25, 2021, as the government approved the revised Enforcement Decree of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information at a cabinet meeting held on March 16. Key Provisions I. Scope of VASPs Virtual asset service providers are virtual asset trading service providers, virtual asset safekeeping and administration service providers and virtual asset digital wallet service providers that are engaged in the purchase and sales, exchange and transfer, safekeeping and administration, intermediation and brokerage of virtual assets and virtual asset transactions. II. Business registration of VASPs VASPs are required to register their business with the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU) prior to the commencement of their business operation. Existing businesses that qualify as VASPs should register within six months (until September 24, 2021) or they will be subject to penalties. III. AML duties of VASPs Beginning on March 25, 2021, the registered VASPs will be subject to the anti-money laundering (AML) requirements, such as duties to verify identities of customers, file reports on suspicious transactions, etc. The authorities will carry out inspection and supervision on VASPs with regard to their compliance of AML requirements from the time of business registration. As the requirement to check and verify the identity of customers applies only to the registered businesses, consumers are advised to check the status of business registration and practice caution against VASPs requesting information about their resident registration numbers. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 15, 2021

FSC to Provide Continued Support through Corporate Asset Purchase Program

The FSC announced that the corporate asset purchase program that was launched in July last year has provided KRW1.1 trillion in support to businesses facing temporary liquidity shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The support provided through purchase of companies real estate assets amounted to KRW658.1 billion while the support extended via purchase of vessels from maritime shipping companies amounted to KRW417.1 billion. The corporate asset purchase program will seek to make available about KRW1 trillion in support for business asset sell-offs in 2021. The program will carry out demand surveys to search for companies in need of asset sell-offs and prioritize providing support to SMEs and middle market enterprises. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 11, 2021

New Deal Fund Makes 1st Business Investment in Smart Health Care Sector

FSC Chairman Eun Sung-soo visited Biocores biotechnology division in Yongin-si on March 11 and delivered congratulatory remarks as the company has been selected as the first recipient of investment from a New Deal fund. In his remarks, Chairman Eun talked about the importance of the first New Deal fund investment setting a best practice example for subsequent investments in both green and digital New Deal areas. Chairman Eun also spoke about the importance of boosting private sector investment in New Deal ecosystem, which will help foster the economys future growth areas. In this regard, Chairman Eun pledged that the government will provide strong support to facilitate investment in New Deal businesses and infrastructures. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 11, 2021

FSC Announces Revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the FSCMA

The FSC announced a revision proposal for the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act on March 11. The revision proposal contains measures to bring improvements to the Chinese wall regulation,ease reporting duties on consignment, set standards on financial investment businesses credit extension to overseas branches and restrict investors from placing multiple orders for IPO subscription. The revision proposal will be put up for public notice until April 20 and will go into effect on May 20, 2021. Key Revisions I. Chinese Wall Regulation The revision proposal promotes more autonomy and accountability of financial investment businesses with respect to their internal management of Chinese wall policies. It specifies the types of information subject to the Chinese wall regulation, requirements for internal control standards, etc. In this regard, material nonpublic information and information on their clients asset management status will be subject to the Chinese Wall regulation. Financial investment businesses will be required to maintain specific internal control standards with respect to the prevention of information sharing, specific methods for information barriers, exemptions, etc. An independent board-level position should oversee the management of the internal control standards and the relevant information will be subject to disclosure. II. Consignment Rules The revised Act allows in principle financial investment businesses to consign their work to third-party agents except for duties pertaining to internal control. In this regard, the revised Enforcement Decree specifies internal control duties as duties related to compliance, internal audit and inspection, risk management and credit risk analysis evaluation. Their reporting duty on consignment to the FSC will also be changed from seven days prior to the consignment to within two weeks after the consignment. III. Credit Extension to Overseas Branches Financial investment
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Mar 11, 2021

FSC Announces Revisions to the Supervisory Regulation on Insurance Business

The FSC announced revisions to the supervisory regulation on insurance business on March 11 to prepare for the implementation of the revised Insurance Business Act which is expected to take effect on June 9, 2021. The revised regulation will go into effect in the first half of this year. Key Revisions I. Disclosure Rules Regarding Litigation Information Currently, insurers are required to disclose information about the number of litigations on insurance claims and the rate of claims payments vis--vis litigations. In order to prevent insurers from misusing the litigation process against the underaged or financially vulnerable customers, the revised regulation will expand their disclosure requirements to include information about how many times they have convened litigation control committee meetings as well as their decisions. II. Insurance Coverage Period on Small-sum Short-term Insurance Policies As small-sum and short-term insurance products are still at an early stage of being introduced, their coverage period will be limited to one year to ensure consumer protection. III. External Evaluation on Policy Reserves Under the revised Enforcement Decree, insurance firms are required to have external actuaries approve the appropriateness of their policy reserves.In this regard, the result of external evaluation should be submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service, which may in turn request a re-evaluation. IV. Foreign Exchange Position Limit Currently, the foreign exchange position limit of insurance companies is set at twenty percent of the total adjusted capital. The revised regulation will increase this to thirty percent of the total adjusted capital as the foreign exchange position limit of insurance companies has remained low compared to other financial sectors, such as banks and financial investment businesses. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 10, 2021

FSC Introduces New Penalty Standards on Virtual Asset Service Providers

The FSC announced a revision proposal for the supervisory regulation on virtual asset service providers on March 10 as the revised Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information is scheduled to go into effect on March 25, 2021. The revision proposal introduces new penalty standards on VASPs, simplifies and integrates existing penalty rules and improves rules on penalty abatement to provide relief for small-scale financial enterprises. Under the revised regulation, financial institutions and VASPs will be subject to penalties if they are found to be in violation of internal control duties (e.g. failure to report suspicious transaction activities), data maintenance duties (e.g. failure to keep relevant data on suspicious transactions) and duties specifically pertaining to VASPs (e.g. failure to keep separate management of customers transactions records). The revised regulation also introduces a new penalty abatement of fifty percent. For small-scale entities, penalty abatement can be granted in excess of the fifty percent limit. The revision proposal will be put up for public notice from March 11 until April 20 and will take effect immediately after pronouncement. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 10, 2021

Household Loans, February 2021

The outstanding balance of household loansin all financial sectors rose KRW9.5 trillion from the previous month at the end of February 2021 (up 8.5% y-o-y). In the banking sector, household loans increased KRW6.7 trillion while the non-banking sector saw an increase of KRW2.8 trillion. All financial sectors (y-o-y): +5.3% (Feb 2019) +5.0% (Feb 2020) +8.5% (Feb 2021) By type, mortgage loans rose KRW7.7 trillion in February, growing KRW1.8 trillion from the previous month (up KRW0.8 trillion y-o-y). In the banking sector, jeonseloans and mortgage loans grew KRW3.4 trillion and KRW2.3 trillion, respectively, while mortgage lending by non-banks increased KRW1.3 trillion from the previous month. Other types of loans rose KRW1.8 trillion, down KRW2.7 trillion from the previous month as demand for credit loans declined. The financial authorities will closely monitor trends in household loans and introduce a more effective household debt management plan focusing on individual DSR within this month. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 09, 2021

FSC Decides to Extend the Availability of Eased LCR and LTD Rules for Banks

The FSC decided to extend the availability of some of the interim deregulatory measures introduced on April 17 of last year to ensure continued support for the financial sector on March 8. The FSC plans to work on a gradual rollback and step-by-step normalization of regulations while maintaining close monitoring and supervision on the soundness of financial institutions. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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