Press Releases - Financial Services Commission

Press Releases

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Aug 03, 2019

Government To Provide Financial Support For Companies Affected by Japan's Export Restrictions

FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku convened an emergency meeting with officials from relevant organizations and banks to discuss financial support for companies that are affected by Japan’s decision to remove Korea from its ‘white list.’The government will put all-out efforts to minimize any possible impact of Japan’s export restrictions on the Korean economy and companies. As part of such efforts, the government will provide “swift and sufficient financial support” for companies that could be affected by Japan’s export restrictions.The measures include rolling over maturing loans, providing fresh loans of KRW6 trillion and financing long-term investments in the material, component and equipment industries.► State-run financial institutions1 will offer a one-year extension of maturity for outstanding loans and guarantees. The measure is intended to reduce debt repayment burden for companies that import items subject to Japan’s tightened export controls.► State-run financial institutions will provide fresh loans of KRW6 trillion to help stabilize affected business operations and diversify their supply chains.► State-run financial institutions will finance long-term investments in manufacturing facilities, RD and to strengthen competitiveness of Korea’s material, component and equipment industriesThe FSC launched an emergency response taskforce with the FSS and relevant organizations. The taskforce is responsible for monitoring business situations and providing financial support in a timely manner.At the same time, the FSC will keep closely monitoring financial market conditions and take necessary actions, if needed, to secure financial stability.
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Jul 25, 2019

Sixth Batch of Financial Service Providers Designated as 'Innovative Financial Services' for FSC's Regulatory Sandbox

FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku convened an emergency meeting with officials from relevant organizations and banks to discuss financial support for companies that are affected by Japan’s decision to remove Korea from its ‘white list.’The government will put all-out efforts to minimize any possible impact of Japan’s export restrictions on the Korean economy and companies. As part of such efforts, the government will provide “swift and sufficient financial support” for companies that could be affected by Japan’s export restrictions.The measures include rolling over maturing loans, providing fresh loans of KRW6 trillion and financing long-term investments in the material, component and equipment industries.► State-run financial institutions1 will offer a one-year extension of maturity for outstanding loans and guarantees. The measure is intended to reduce debt repayment burden for companies that import items subject to Japan’s tightened export controls.► State-run financial institutions will provide fresh loans of KRW6 trillion to help stabilize affected business operations and diversify their supply chains.► State-run financial institutions will finance long-term investments in manufacturing facilities, RD and to strengthen competitiveness of Korea’s material, component and equipment industriesThe FSC launched an emergency response taskforce with the FSS and relevant organizations. The taskforce is responsible for monitoring business situations and providing financial support in a timely manner.At the same time, the FSC will keep closely monitoring financial market conditions and take necessary actions, if needed, to secure financial stability.
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Jul 24, 2019

FSC Approves Kakao's Holding of 34% Stake in KakaoBank

The FSC approved a resolution at its regular meeting on July 24, 2019 that allows Kakao to hold a 34% stake in KakaoBank.※ Under the Special Act on Internet-only Banks, non-financial companies including ICT firms are permitted to hold shares a maximum 34% of shares with voting rights.The FSC judged Kakao qualifies for owning a 34% stake in a digital bank, satisfying all the criteria under the Special Act including financial soundness, social creditworthiness and its business proportion in the ICT sector.
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Jul 18, 2019

Special Judicial Police launched for Investigation of Unfair Trading Activities in Capital Markets

A special judicial police squad for investigation of unfair trading activities in capital markets was launched on July 18, 2019. The newly-created squad comprises 16 special judicial police officers - one FSC public official and 15 FSS employees, designated by the chief prosecutor of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office on the recommendation by the FSC Chairman. The special judicial police will handle capital markets unfair trading cases under the command of Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office, among those referred to the Prosecutors Office as fast-track cases designated by the Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). In order to ensure due process, the designated special judicial police officer should follow prosecutors directions in their overall duties including compulsory investigations. Upon the closure of an investigation, the Prosecutors Office will inform SFC Chairman of investigation results. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Jul 18, 2019

FSC Chairman's Remarks on Financial Market Conditions amid Concerns over Japan's Export Curbs

FSC Chairman Choi Jong-ku briefed the press on recent financial market conditions amid rising concerns over any possible effect of Japan’s export curbs on Korea’s financial market. The briefing came as some local media reports voiced concerns that Japan’s export restrictions may escalate into retaliatory measures in the financial sector.Chairman Choi reaffirmed that even if such a scenario became a reality, albeit highly unlikely, the effect would be limited, citing the following reasons:(i) Japan does not represent a significant share of foreign capital in Korea’s financial market.- Japan accounts for 2.3% (KRW13 trillion) and 1.3% (KRW1.6 trillion) of foreign capital in Korea’s equity and bond markets respectively, as of end-June 2019.(ii) Korean banks are maintaining good credit standings so that they are capable of financing from other alternative sources in international financial markets.- Korean banks’ borrowings from Japan amount to USD9.26 billion (KRW10.6 trillion), which accounts for 6.6% of total foreign currency borrowings (as of end-June 2019).- Korean banks’ FX liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) is 111.2% as of June 2019, well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 80%.- Foreign currency surplus amounts to USD29.2 billion, which is higher than the amount of foreign currency borrowings (USD25.5 billion) maturing in three months.(iii) Korea’s foreign currency amounts to USD402 billion, which is the 9th biggest in the world (as of May 2019).The government will keep closely monitoring ongoing situations and remain vigilant with contingency plans in place against any possible scenario
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Jul 17, 2019

FSC to Resume Procedures to Approve Additional Digital Banks in Korea

The FSC announced its plan to resume a new round of procedures for granting preliminary approval for additional digital banks in Korea.Earlier this year, the FSC intended to approve one or two additional digital banks under the Special Act on Online-only Banks, which allows non-financial companies to own a 34% stake in an online-only bank. However, the FSC granted no preliminary approval to either of the two applicants – Kiwoom and Toss – in last May as both fell short of the evaluation committee’s standards.Against the backdrop, the FSC decided to resume a new round of procedures to live up to the purpose of the special legislation on online-only banks and continue a momentum of policy initiatives for Korea’s innovation-led growth.As initially announced, the number of new digital banks will be one or two, given the level of competition in the banking sector and the examples of other major economies.PROCEDURAL IMPROVEMENTSHowever, in order to ensure more effective evaluation, some operational changes will be made in procedures from application to operation of the evaluation committee.► The FSS will provide applicants with consultation over the whole process of application to help them better informed.► If necessary, the chairman of the evaluation committee will be attending FSC meetings to explain evaluation criteria so that FSC commissioners could have in- depth discussions and reviews on the committee’s evaluation results.► Applicants will be given enough opportunities to express their opinions during the evaluation committee’s evaluation process.SCHEDULE► Application period: 10th October ~15th October, 2019► Announcement of preliminary approval: within 60 days upon the date of application► Announcement of official approval: within one month upon the date of application for official approval
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Jun 26, 2019

FSC to Ease Listing Rules for Tech Start-ups & Scale-ups

The FSC approved amendment proposals by the KRX to ease listing regulations on Kospi and Kosdaq to facilitate IPOs of innovative tech start-ups and scale-ups.I. Listing review standards to be tailored to sector-specific factors (KOSDAQ)Despite a series of deregulatory measures to facilitate IPOs of innovative start-ups, standards for listing review are still mainly focused on current business and market status, making it difficult for tech start-ups with growth potential to list on KOSDAQ.Against this backdrop, differential standards for listing review will apply across sectors to better reflect sector-specific conditions, particularly high-tech and bio-tech sectors in the fourth industrial revolution. The focus of listing review will be on innovativeness and potential value of technology.(i) Industry 4.0 sectors► subject: 152 strategic items in 20 sectorsdesignated by the Ministry of SMEs Startups► qualitative review standards to be focused on innovativeness(ii) biotech sector► subject: bio-tech companies to be listed via special tracksbased on their technology innovativeness and growth potential► technology evaluation criteria to be further detailedII. Rules to designate administrative issues to be eased for biotech companies (KOSDAQ)Currently, bio-tech companies listed on KOSDAQ via a special track for tech companies are designated as administrative issues if such company’s total revenue is below KRW 3 billion in 5 years after listing. To meet such revenue requirement, biotech companies are often forced to reduce RD activities, consequently undercutting their growth potential.Against this backdrop, the revenue requirement will be eased for biotech companies suffering from temporary drop in revenue. Even if a biotech company’s revenue in the latest business year falls short of KRW3 billion, it will not be designated as an administrative issue if its total revenue in the recent three years is KRW9 billion or more.Biotech companies which qualify for cert
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Jun 26, 2019

FSC Identifies D-SIBs for 2020

The FSC identified five bank holding companies as domestic systemically important bank holding groups, and their subsidiary banks as domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) for 2020: Shinhan Financial Group (Shinhan Bank), Hana Financial Group (Hana Bank), KB Financial Group (Kookmin Bank), NH Financial Group (NongHyup Bank), Jeju Bank and Woori Financial Group (Woori Bank). Woori Financial Group is newly added to the list for 2020.Those identified as D-SIBs will be required to set aside an additional capital surcharge of 1% in 2020.* Please refer to the attached file for details.
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Jun 26, 2019

Fifth Batch of Financial Service Providers Designated as 'Innovative Financial Services' for FSC's Regulatory Sandbox

The FSC designated additional five financial service providers as ‘innovative financial services’ to be accepted into financial regulatory sandbox. As of June 26, 37 services are approved to be tested in the financial regulatory sandbox.Overview of designated innovative financial services1. An online shopping platform on which a consumer can purchase mobile prepaid coupon at a discounted rate to pay insurance fee for NongHyup Direct Insurance products. (NongHyup Property Casualty Insurance)2,3. A blockchain-based decentralized identifier (DID) service that simplifies ID verification procedures when a consumer opens an account through non-face-to- face ID verification. (Iconloop, Fount)4,5. A loan brokerage service that provides accurate information and comparison of different loan products offered by various financial firms. (MoneyLaps, Rainist)
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Jun 25, 2019

FSC to Overhaul Authorization Scheme for Financial Investment Business

The FSC plans to overhaul the current authorization scheme for financial investment business in order to bring fresh competition and boost vitality in capital markets. The regulatory reform includes lowering entry barriers to promote competition; and shifting from licensing to registration-based system for add-on business of securities companies.BackgroundThis year marks the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA), which laid the foundation for the current authorization scheme. The current authorization framework introduced a function- based approach in licensing financial investment business, which applies same requirements to those with same functions. That contributes to eliminating regulatory arbitrage across sectors and strengthening investor protection. However, financial investment business officials have been asking for further improvements to address the complexity of the current scheme; and lengthy procedural burden to obtain a new licenses for add-on businesses.Against this backdrop, the FSC proposed a plan to overhaul the current authorization scheme for financial business so that they can play an active role in financing and supporting Korea’s innovation-led growth.Key Reforms1. Entry barriers to be loweredSECURITIES COMPANIES► The FSC will abolish a rule which allows one securities firm for one financial group, facilitating creation of new ones, spin-off or acquisition among securities firms.► Currently, the entry of a new securities company is allowed only in a limited range of specialized business. The FSC will allow new entrants to engage in the whole range of investment brokerage and trading businesses.ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANIES► The FSC will abolish a rule which allows one asset management company for one financial group.► The FSC will also make it easier for asset management companies to change their private equity funds into public funds, by lowering the current requirement
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Jun 25, 2019

Government to Complete Privatization of Woori Financial Group by 2022

The FSC announced its plan to sell the remaining 18.3% stake in Woori Financial Group (WFG), owned by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation (KDIC), from 2020 to 2022.BACKGROUNDIn the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis in 1998, the government injected KRW12.8 trillion to bail out five financial institutions, which later turned into WFG. Since then, the government has redeemed KRW11.1 trillion, or 87.3% of the injected public funds.The government still remains as the largest shareholder of WFG with the remaining 18.3% stake owned by KDIC, prompting market uncertainty and concerns that the complete privatization of WFG might be delayed.Against the backdrop, the FSC intends to ease market uncertainty and concerns by presenting its roadmap for the sale of the remaining stake in WFG, which includes specific timelines and methods.ROADMAP FOR SALE OF REMAINING STAKE IN WFG1. TimelinesKDIC will sell its remaining stake in WFG through two or three rounds of sale over the next three years from 2020 to 2022.In principle, sale will be proceeding in one-year intervals over the next three years. The amount of shares put up for sale in each round will not exceed 10%, given market demand.The government aims to complete the sale of its remaining stake by 2022.2. MethodsFor each round of sale, maximum 10% of shares will be sold through competitive bidding first. If shares fail to be sold at auctions, then they will be sold through a bloc sale with a maximum 5% for each round of sale.
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Jun 18, 2019

Electronic Securities System to be Introduced

Securities certificates of listed stocks and bonds will be issued electronically only, not in physical form, starting from September 16, 2019.Korea will introduce an electronic securities system as the 「 Act on Electronic Registration of Stocks, Bonds, etc.」(hereinafter referred to as ‘Electronic Securities Act’) and its subordinate decree will take effect on September 16.Under the new system, securities certificates of listed stocks and bonds are required to be recorded on an electronic register, allowing investors to acquire, transfer and exercise subsequent rights electronically. Most of securities, except those that have effect only in written form (e.g. commercial papers), will be subject to mandatory electronic registration. Once registered electronically, securities issued in physical form shall not have effect. Unlisted stocks, not subject to mandatory electronic registration, may be registered electronically upon the issuer’s application.The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) will act as an electronic registry under the Electronic Securities Act, ensuring a smooth transition to the paperless system. It will be in charge of electronic registration of securities, management of rights to electronically registered securities, operation of relevant IT infrastructure, and disclosure of issuance of electronic securities, etc.The introduction of electronic securities system is expected to save cost of issuing securities, reduce risks in securities circulation, and enhance transparency in corporate governance and securities transaction.
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Jun 17, 2019

FSC to Reform Benchmark Interest Rates

The FSC and the Bank of Korea (BOK) jointly launched a taskforce to develop a new benchmark interest rate, which aims to replace the current benchmark interest rate of certificate of deposits (CDs) by 2021. Co-chaired by FSC Vice Chairman and BOK Vice Governor, the taskforce is composed of officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Financial Supervisory Service, market participants and research institutions.The rate-rigging scandal of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) in 2012 prompted global reform efforts to improve the representativeness and credibility of benchmark interest rates. In preparation for the expiration of LIBOR in 2022, the US, the UK, the EU, Japan and Switzerland are replacing it with new benchmarks such as “risk-free” overnight rates. Other countries including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore, whose currencies are not used to calculate LIBOR, are also developing alternatives to enhance the representativeness and transparency of benchmark interest rates and their consistency with international standards.In line with the global move, Korea will also develop a new benchmark interest rate as an alternative to the CD rates, currently being widely used as a benchmark interest rate in Korea’s financial markets.However, the CD rates have fundamental limitations in serving as a benchmark interest rate: (i) the issuance of CDs is not sufficient; and (ii) CD rates are based on quotes, not real transactions.Against this backdrop, the FSC and the BOK jointly launched a taskforce to develop an alternative to the CD rates, which aims to publish a new benchmark interest rate in March 2021. Meanwhile, the taskforce will also come up with measures in the second half of 2019 to boost the issuance of CDs and improve the current method of calculating CD rates.At a kick-off meeting on June 14, FSC Vice Chairman Sohn Byungdoo called for an active role by market participants including banks, financial investment companies and the KRX i
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Jun 12, 2019

FSC to Extend Guidelines for Comprehensive Supervision on Financial Conglomerates

The FSC decided to extend the best practice guidelines for comprehensive supervision of financial conglomerates for another year with some revisions.The introduction of comprehensive supervision on financial conglomerates is one of key policy agenda under the Moon Jae-in administration. The comprehensive supervisory scheme is intended to capture and manage group-wide risks of financial conglomerates that conventional sectoral supervision cannot fully address. It will also help prevent any possible contagion of group-wide risks into financial affiliates.Since the FSC announced its plan to introduce a comprehensive framework for financial conglomerates in January 20181, best practice guidelines were established and implemented with seven financial conglomerates2 starting from July last year. As the guidelines are due to expire on July 1 this year, the FSC decided to extend the deadline to July 1, 2020. The FSC also made some amendments to the guidelines to reflect feedback received from financial conglomerates and make it better coordinated with other relevant laws.Given that the one-year pilot test under the guidelines is to be extended for another year, a list of financial conglomerates subject to comprehensive supervisory schemes will remain same with last year: Samsung, Hanwha, Mirae Asset, Kyobo, Hyundai Motor, DB and Lotte.Based on the guidelines, the FSC will provide detailed standards for designation of subjects of comprehensive supervision, capital adequacy and risk management assessment.At the same time, the FSC will continue our efforts to support a new legislation of comprehensive supervision on financial conglomerates. Currently, two bills have been proposed and under discussion at the National Assembly.
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Jun 12, 2019

Fourth Batch of Financial Service Providers Designated as 'Innovative Financial Services' for FSC's Regulatory Sandbox

The FSC designated additional six financial service providers as ‘innovative financial services’ to be accepted into financial regulatory sandbox. As of June 12, 32 services are approved to be tested in the financial regulatory sandbox.Overview of designated innovative financial services1. A simplified payment settlement agency service of online to offline(O2O) order payment services. (Paymint)2. A platform for transfer, management and settlement of small-sum money for lending circles. (Kona I)3. An artificial intelligence(AI)-based service that evaluates sustainability of a SME by analyzing the company’s non-financial information(ESG: Environment, Social, Governance). (Who’s Good)4. A simple payment service that allows a customer to make payments through SMS verification process. (Settle Bank)5,6. A service that calculates real-time price and mortgage value of real-estate properties using AI algorithm. (Big Value, Gonggam Lab)Innovative financial services to be launched for service in June1,2. An ‘on-off overseas travel insurance’ which a policy holder can simply activate(On) the travel insurance when going abroad, and deactivate(Off) it once he/she returns Korea. (NH Property and Casualty Insurance, Rainist)3-6. A mobile loan brokerage service using smart phone application that provides optimal information on various loan products such as interest rates and loan limit. (Finset, Finda, Viva Republica, MyBank)
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Jun 03, 2019

FSC Announces Plans to Establish Financial Big Data Infrastructure

The FSC announced its plans for financial big data infrastructure, as part of the government’s wider efforts to promote digital economy with the use of big data. The plans include open data system by Korea Credit Information Services (KCIS); creation of a financial data exchange by Financial Security Institute (FSI); and designation of a specialized agency for financial data to ensure safe use and combination of data across sectors.FSC Chairman Choi Jongku said data infrastructure will pave the way for further digital innovation and competition in the financial sector and a level playing field for financial companies and fintech start-ups.Open data systemThe KCIS1 will adopt an open data system called ‘CreDB’, which will be gradually open to fintech firms, financial companies and research institutions.It will first open a sample of de-identified data - 5% of the entire DB - starting from June 2019. The data will include 2 million people’s credit information such as their bank loans, late payment records or credit card accounts. The scope of data sharing will be gradually expanded to include credit information with insurance companies and corporate credit information.Starting from the second half of this year, CreDB will also provide universities and other educational institutions with synthetic data, a copy of original data, for research and training purposes.CreDB will be open further in the first half of 2020 with a broader sample of customized data tailored to the user’s analysis purpose.Financial data exchangeA data exchange will be established to facilitate data transactions among financial companies, credit rating companies, public institutions, fintech firms, research institutions and etc. Given the importance of security in data transaction, FSI2 will1 KCIS is Korea’s public credit registry (PCR) established under the Credit Information Use and Protection Act, which collects data of 40 million people from 5,000 financial companies.2 FSI is a fina
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May 30, 2019

Debt Service Ratio(DSR) Rules to be Introduced in Non-banking Sector

The FSC announced its plan to extend current debt service ratio (DSR) standards to non-bank financial institutions as one of the criteria for managing household loans. The DSR is the ratio of a household borrower’s total debt repayment (i.e. principal and interest payments) to his/her annual income. The DSR was first introduced to the banking sector from October 2018. Starting from June 17, 2019, the DSR will be implemented across the non-banking financial sector - e.g. savings banks, insurers and card companies.IMPLEMENTATION PLANDifferential target ratios will be set across the sector, reflecting different conditions faced with each sector and borrowers’ characteristics. The non-banking sector will be given enough time to gradually reduce their DSRs to target ratios to make sure borrowers’ access to loans is not excessively curtailed.* Please refer to the attached file for details.
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May 30, 2019

FSC Introduces Deregulatory Measures to Boost Korea's Derivatives Market

The FSC introduced deregulatory measures to make Korea’s derivatives markets more vibrant and competitive. The reforms are intended to strengthen the derivative market’s role for risk hedging and price discovery, as part of the government’s broader efforts to vitalize capital markets and support the real economy.BackgroundKorea’s derivatives trading volume fell sharply from its peak in 2011 but recovered to an extent after 2015 with increased trading of index products.1 Since the introduction of tighter regulations to curb speculative trading in 2011, the derivatives market’s soundness improved with an increase in the number of longer-term open contracts for risk hedging.2By investors, foreigners accounted for 50.4% of derivatives trading in 2018, up from 25.7% in 2011. Over the same period, the share of institutional investors decreased from 48.7% to 36.1%; and retail investors from 25.6% to 13.5%. Excessive entry barriers act as obstacles to retail investors, while strict margin requirements hinder institutional investors’ participation.The derivatives market is disproportionately concentrated in KOSPI200-related products, making it difficult to serve investors’ demand for a variety of derivatives products.Reform Measures► Lower entry barriers for retail investors (Q4 2019/FSC, KRX) Minimum deposit requirement will be abolished for professional investors and eased for non-professional investors: (i) KRW 10million or more for futures and options trading; and (ii) KRW 20million or more for all derivatives trading. One hour of education and three hours of mock trading► Ease margin requirements for institutional investors (Q3 2019/FSC, KRX) Currently, institutional investors are required to deposit an extra margin, 10 % of credit risk limit, in addition to 100% of the volume exceeding the credit limit. The1 Average daily turnover (unit: trillion won): 66.3(2011), 47.9(2013), 37.2(2014), 41.2(2015).45.0(2018)2 KOSPI 200 Futures Open Interest (unit: 10
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May 27, 2019

FSC to Ease Restrictions on Information Sharing in Financial Investment Business

The FSC proposed reforms to the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA) to improve business conduct rules on financial investment business.The reformed bill will include easing the current requirement of information barriers, known as ‘Chinese walls,’ to enhance its regulatory effectiveness and flexibility; and making it easier for financial investment companies to entrust their business, or engage in concurrent or incidental businesses to facilitate the emergence of innovative and specialized services. The FSC plans to submit its reform bill on the FSCMA to the National Assembly in the first half of this year.I. EASE RULES ON CHINESE WALLThe ‘Chinese wall’ rules were introduced to prevent conflicts of interests as financial investment companies increasingly expanded their business scope with concurrent businesses. Currently, information barriers are set up to block the exchange of information across business units – e.g. corporate financing business, proprietary investment business and financial investment business. However, the current regulatory regime stipulates details including the subject and implementation methods by law, leaving little autonomy to financial investment companies.Against this backdrop, the types of information, not types of business, will serve as a basis to apply the Chinese wall rules. For example, ‘material nonpublic information’ should be separated from other information related to management of customer property. Also, the FSCMA will be amended to provide only basic principles and leave implementation details to financial investment companies to allow more autonomy and flexibility.The current rules that require physical separation of offices, and prohibit executives and employees from holding concurrent positions across business units or with affiliate companies will be abolished. Instead, companies will be required to strengthen their internal control on ‘material nonpublic information’ and establ
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May 26, 2019

Results of Evaluation for Preliminary Approval for Additional Online-only Bank Licenses

The FSC rejected applications filed by ‘Kiwoom Bank’ and ‘Toss Bank’ for preliminary approval for online-only bank licenses as the two applicants1 both fell short of the standards for online-only banks by an evaluation committee.The evaluation committee composes of independent experts concluded that Kiwoom Bank lacked innovativeness and feasibility in its business plan, while Toss Bank had issues concerning its financing ability to raise capital. The evaluation committee, therefore, recommended disapproval of the two bidders.Based on the recommendation by the evaluation committee and the evaluation result submitted by the FSS, the FSC decided not to allow both ‘Kiwoom Bank’ and ‘Toss Bank’ preliminary approval for online-only bank licenses.The FSC plans to resume its procedure in the third quarter to receive new applications for online-only bank licenses.
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