-
Nov 03, 2022
- Authorities Hold Meeting with Life Insurance Businesses to Monitor Market Situation
- The FSC and the FSS held a meeting with life insurers on November 3 to share current issues in the insurance sector and monitor current market situation. At the meeting, participants discussed the recent situation where insurance companies are having to resort to bond sales due to an abrupt increase in demand for liquid assets following a rise in the number of surrendered savings insurance policies driven by increasing interest rates on savings products amid growing market uncertainties. In this regard, the insurance sector expressed the need for measures that will help them accumulate more liquid assets or alleviate their burden of having to maintain certain levels of liquid assets. In response, financial authorities stated that the insurance companies rising demand for liquid assets is understandable. However, to ensure stability in money market, authorities asked insurers to refrain from selling bonds and more actively contribute to market stabilization efforts as institutional investors. Nonetheless, authorities decided to seek measures to help insurers to better respond to the recently expanded volatility and uncertainty of funding market. To this end, authorities will temporarily ease the liquidity risk evaluation standardfor insurers to facilitate their active contribution to market stabilization efforts such as capital calls for the bond market stabilization fund. In addition, at a meeting with non-life insurers on October 28, authorities already decided to expand the types of liquid assets for insurers when applying the liquidity ratio regulationto ease their burden of maintaining liquid assets. Also, for other measures to increase liquiditysuggested by insurers, authorities will promptly review their viability while maintaining close communication throughout. The measure to temporarily relax the liquidity risk evaluation standard for insurers will take effect promptly with a revision to the detailed regulations on supervision of insurance businesses in Nov
-
Nov 01, 2022
- FSC Chairman Meets with Financial Holding Company CEOs and Discusses Market Stabilization Measures
- FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun met with CEOs of five major financial holding companieson November 1 and held talks on current financial market situation. At the meeting, Chairman Kim and participants discussed the important role of financial holding companies in stabilizing markets, ensuring liquidity provision to the real economy and providing support for vulnerable debtors. Summary of Remarks by FSC Chairman Amid global monetary policy tightening, Koreas money market reacted sensitively to certain market shocks, which has resulted in the spread of anxieties even to the corporate bond market. However, the governments swift announcement and implementation of market stabilization programs worth KRW50 trillion-plus, in conjunction with the Bank of Korea and the banking sectors speedy efforts, helped to stop market situations from getting worse and that market conditions are gradually returning to stability. To ensure effectiveness in the governments market stabilization measures, it is necessary to have market participants play their parts and cooperate with each other to facilitate seamless circulation of funds. In particular, the role and responsibility of financial holding companies and their affiliated financial institutions like banks are important as they make up a big part of financial markets and have good financial and liquidity conditions. Financial holding companies and their affiliated banks recent earnings temporarily increased mostly as the amount of loans increased amid expansive fiscal and monetary policies put in place to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and as global monetary policy tightening followed. Thus, it is expected that financial holding companies and their affiliated banks will play a role in enabling smooth flow of funds through financial markets by acting as intermediaries to stabilize markets, ensure provision of liquidity to the real economy and assist vulnerable debtors. In this regard, financial holding company CEOs are encouraged to make e
-
Oct 28, 2022
-
Oct 27, 2022
- Regulation on Loan-to-Deposit Ratio to be Temporarily Eased to Facilitate Corporate Financing
- The FSC announced that financial authorities will temporarily ease the regulation on loan-to-deposit ratio, which will enable banks and savings banks to provide sufficient liquidity to businesses. The demand for business loans increased as a result of the recent contraction of the corporate bond market.However, the current regulation on loan-to-deposit ratiohas prevented banks from responding actively to these demands for borrowing. To facilitate active response, loan-to-deposit ratio is chosen as a first step of temporary regulatory easing because it is only domestically regulated and swiftly adjustable. Authorities will continue to monitor financial market situations and consider whether other deregulatory steps on such indexes like LCR (liquidity coverage ratio), NSFR (net stable funding ratio) should be taken. Details of Temporary Regulatory Easing To help banks and savings banks to more effectively respond to corporate loan requests, the loan-to-deposit ratio requirements will be eased from 100 percent for both to 105 percent for banks and 110 percent for savings banks. The eased loan-to-deposit ratio requirements will be applied for upcoming six months first, and authorities will take into account extending the period after reviewing market situation. With this easing of loan-to-deposit ratio requirements, banks and savings banks will have additional capacity to lend more to businesses. Furthermore, competition for deposit-taking is alleviated, and thus reduced borrowing costs will help in part to contain upward pressure on interest rates of corporate loans. Further Plan Financial authorities will issue a no-action letter in October to allow temporary easing of loan-to-deposit ratio rules immediately. Changing the calculation method will also take effect immediately with a no-action letter in October, but authorities will revise the supervisory regulation on banking business afterward to make the change officially. Authorities will maintain close communication
-
Oct 26, 2022
-
Oct 26, 2022
-
Oct 24, 2022
- Financial Authorities Hold Meeting to Respond to Bond and Money Market Situation
- FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun presided over a meeting of senior FSC officials on October 23 right after the government-wide emergency meeting on macroeconomic and financial stability took place. At this meeting, Chairman Kim ordered authorities to promptly take follow-up actions to implement the support measures announced at the earlier emergency meeting. After the senior official meeting, FSC Standing Commissioner Kwon Dae-young held another meeting with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), financial industry groups, policy financial institutions and commercial financial institutions to check the recent situation of bond and money market and related risk factors in financial institutions. At the meeting, financial authorities explained that they will immediately activate the KRW50 trillion-plus liquidity of supportive measures announced at the government-wide emergency meeting. Authorities emphasized that the government, aiming to ensure market stability, will provide ample support by all means necessary. In addition, as restoration of market mechanisms is the key to overcome the current problematic situation, authorities said, market participants such as financial institutions and institutional investors also should step up their own efforts to facilitate recovery of the role of financial markets as intermediaries and accordingly to ensure a virtuous cycle. Moreover, authorities underscored the need for concerted efforts of both the government and the private sector. Application of all available means at their disposal and close communication between them should be in harmony to ensure market stability as the government alone has limited financial resources. Financial industry groups, in response to authorities request, also showed their commitment to strengthen efforts to stabilize financial markets and actively cooperate with the governments measures. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
-
Oct 21, 2022
-
Oct 20, 2022
-
Oct 12, 2022
-
Sep 07, 2022
- FSC Prepares Additional Measures to Improve Convertible Bond Market
- The FSC announced additional measures for improving rules on the convertible bond market on September 7. As in the case with the convertible bonds (CBs) and bonds with warrants (BWs) issued by listed firms, the regulation on refixing and call option will also apply to (redeemable) convertible preference shares issued by listed companies. Background In October 2021, the FSC introduced a revisionto the regulation on the issuance of securities and disclosure to help prevent CBs from being used in unfair transactions in such cases where CBs are used expediently to increase the shareholding of largest shareholders. Moreover, the FSC introduced a supervisory guideline on the accounting practices of CB call options to help improve the transparency in CB market from an accounting perspective. However, in the process of pursuing regulatory improvements, a concern has been raised about the possibility of stronger regulation (on refixing, etc.) posing excessive restriction on companies fundraising activities.Therefore, the authorities have prepared additional measures for regulatory improvement after examining the trend of CB issuance since the revised regulation went into effect from December 1, 2021. Convertible Bond Market Trend (Issuance Amount) The monthly average CB issuance amount in the first quarter of this year was KRW579.0 billion, a drop of 36 percent compared to the same period last year (KRW904.6 billion)This is on a par with the declining trend of corporate bonds over the same period (down 29.2 percent y-o-y). However, when including the amount of CB issuance prior to the implementation of the revised regulation (KRW2.2 trillion, November 2021), the monthly average CB issuance amount appears to be on course for recovery after a temporary fluctuation. (Issuance Rate) With the expansion in liquidity amid COVID-19 response measures, the CB issuance rate went down slightly in 2020 but edged back up narrowly due to the effects of base rate hike, etc. (Refixing Propor
-
Sep 01, 2022
- FSC Holds 4th Financial Risk Taskforce Meeting
- FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young held the 4th financial risk taskforce meetingon August 31 jointly with other relevant institutions.The 4th taskforce meeting discussed the following two agenda(a) measures for improving the loss absorbing capacity of financial sectors in response to financial market uncertainties and (b) detailed implementation plans of various market stabilization measures which had been deployed in past financial crises. Summary of Vice Chairmans Remarks In his opening remarks, Vice Chairman Kim assessed that volatility in financial markets has increased due to concerns about the prospect of the Feds aggressive monetary tightening, Europes economic recession, and potential economic slowdown in China, etc. Given the increased uncertainty in financial markets such as rising debt servicing burden of borrowers and a potential collapse in major asset prices, Vice Chairman Kim emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen monitoring of risk factors in the financial sector and prepare response measures preemptively. In order to proactively respond to the accumulated risks such as an increase in lending to vulnerable borrowers and real estate project finance (PF) loans, Vice Chairman Kim stated that the financial authorities will examine the level of loan loss provisions of banks and nonbanks to make sure that they have sufficient capacity to absorb potential losses. He said that the authorities are planning to (a) raise the loan loss provision coverage ratio for the nonbank sector such as savings banks, mutual finance companies and specialized credit finance businesses and (b) introduce a regulatory ground to allow the finical authorities to require banks to set aside additional special loan loss reserves. In particular, for the nonbank sector whose assets have been rapidly increased, Vice Chairman Kim said that the authorities will ensure that they hold a sufficient level of capital while bolstering risk management. In addition, considering the close-knit
-
Aug 29, 2022
- New Start Fund for Small Merchants and Self-employed Business Owners Hit by Covid-19 To Be Launched
- A debt adjustment program, called New Start Fund, for small merchants and self-employed business owners hit by the Covid-19 crisis will be launched in October.The New Start Fund is intended to ease their debt payment burden as they are struggling to repay their debt since they suffered unavoidable losses while cooperating with the governments quarantine measures such as social distancing policy and restrictions to business operations. Background Over the past two and a half years, self-employed business owners and small merchants have suffered inescapable damages in the process of cooperating with the governments preventive measures, such as restrictions on business operation, in response to the COVID-19 crisis. As their businesses slowed down and financial conditions deteriorated, small businesses turned to debt and the size of their loans have grown significantly with increased burdens for principal and interest payments. Major institutions including the Bank of Korea evaluate the size of potential insolvency of self-employed business owners to be about 5 to 8 percent of their total loans. With the availability of COVID-19 support measures such as the loss compensation support, funding support through fiscal spending and the loan maturity extension and payment deferment program, the vulnerability of their debt situation had not surfaced yet. However, there are possibilities that their insolvency potential may build up and expand if there is another wave of COVID-19 or a worsening of the economic or financial conditions due to high levels of interest rates, prices and USD-to-KRW exchange rates. Against this backdrop, the FSC has prepared a debt adjustment program (called New Start Fund) to help prevent an expansion in the insolvency potential of the pandemic-hit small businesses and to provide a chance of credit recovery and restart for debtors who have already turned insolvent. The debt adjustment program will help lower excessive payment burdens (high interest ra
-
Aug 11, 2022
-
Aug 03, 2022
- FSC Announces Measures to Strengthen Financial Support for Business Transformation
- The FSC unveiled a plan to provide financial support in the amount of about KRW1 trillion to companies pursuing business transformation to cope with changing digital and environmental conditions in order to help domestic companies regain their competitiveness edge and expand their business areas. Background In the process of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rapidly changing business conditions such as digital transformation and carbon net zero movement have necessitated businesses to make changes at a greater level. Considering a slowdown in the level of business productivity, it has become necessary for companies to proactively seek structural transformation of their business in order to enhance the level of competitiveness. Measures to Support Business Transformation Currently, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE)s standards for approving business transformation activities and the evaluation standards used by financial institutions remain different, so that it has been difficult to provide financing support to those that have been approved by MOTIE. Therefore, authorities will strengthen the pre-selection process to ensure that businesses that are eligible to receive financial assistance are selected as the entities pursuing business transformation by introducing a two-staged evaluation process (evaluation of disqualification criteria and evaluation of technological prowess). a) The business transformation support center will examinethe financial conditions of applicants and determine whether there are any reasons for disqualification. b) A technology credit bureau (TCB) will examine and determine the technological prowess and the viability of business model for those that have passed the evaluation of disqualification criteria. Through TCBs technology appraisal,the feasibility of new business model will be evaluated such as the potential for expanding sales, operating profit, etc., and the capability for capital expansion will be evaluated b
-
Jul 26, 2022
- FSC Announces Plan to Introduce Insolvency Resolution Mechanism for Financial Institutions
- The FSC announced a plan to introduce an insolvency resolution mechanism for financial institutions (tentatively called financial stability account) to help prevent insolvency of financial institutions. The plan was discussed at the financial risk response taskforce meeting held on July 26. With changes in financial market environment, there have been calls for introducing a mechanism that can help protect financial institutions against insolvency and prevent risks from spreading in advance. In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, major economies such as the U.S., EU and Japan established such preventive support systems. In this regard, the FSC is considering ways to introduce an insolvency resolution mechanism for financial institutions (tentatively called financial stability account)for insolvency prevention of financial institutions through liquidity provision and capital expansion. The FSC will prepare a detailed plan after coordinating with relevant ministries and institutions and gathering opinions from experts and seek revision to the Depositor Protection Act accordingly. Background With some of the changes taking place in the financial industry such as the growth of the nonbank sector, deepening interconnectedness between financial sectors and unpredictability in shock originating from the real economy sector, there is growing concern about risks in certain areas spreading across the entire financial system. Therefore, through provision of liquidity injection and capital expansion to the financial sector facing temporary distress amid a crisis situation, it is necessary to keep the cost of maintaining stability in the financial system to a minimum levelby preventing insolvency of financial institutions as well as spread of risks. Major economies such as the U.S., Japan and EU had already set up relevant systems to prevent systemic risks and minimize the cost of insolvency resolution in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. On the contrary, t
-
Jul 13, 2022
-
Jun 23, 2022
-
Jun 09, 2022
-
Apr 01, 2022
- FSC Approves Rules Change to Gradually Introduce Mark-to-Market Valuation on Corporate MMFs
- The FSC approved a revision to the regulation on financial investment business at the 6th regular meeting held on March 30 for gradually introducing the mark-to-market valuation method on corporate money market funds (MMFs) and to check relevant preparation and implementation to facilitate a soft-landing of the mark-to-market method in the market. Background The mark-to-market valuation method on corporate MMFs is scheduled to take effect from April 1, 2022, which was introduced through amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) and the regulation on financial investment business in March 2020. Although the mark-to-market valuation method is considered as the rule of the game in principle, prior to the amendments, the book value method was permitted on MMFs as long as the disparate rate in the market-to-book value is within 0.5 percent. However, when disparity in the market-to-book value widens, there is a possibility of causing an abrupt and large-scale redemption as the earlier the investor redeems his/her money, the higher valuation s/he will get on return. As such, the amendments have been introduced to bring about improvements by introducing and implementing the mark-to-market valuation method on corporate MMFs from April 2022. Some of the key changes include (a) making an exemption to allow the book value method on corporate MMFs with more than 30 percent of stable assets as prescribed by the regulation on financial investment business and (b) expanding the duration of corporate MMFs using the mark-to-market valuation method from 75 days previously to 120 days to promote a wider use. However, with a growing potential of rising volatility in short-term money markets recently, there have been calls for a need to introduce the mark-to-market valuation method in a step-by-step manner in order to prevent corporate MMFs from turning into potential risk factors. With the MMFs current preference for the bo
