Press Releases - Financial Services Commission

Press Releases

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Apr 02, 2024

FSC Introduces New Incentive Programs for Corporate Value-up Program

The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with relevant organizations and industry groups on April 2 and announced a set of new incentive programs planned for the Corporate Value-up Program. At the beginning of the meeting, FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung delivered opening remarks highlighting the purpose and significance of todays meeting. Vice Chairman Kim said that accounting and dividend are important mechanisms connecting companies to their shareholders and investors and that they are closely associated with the corporate governance structure. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim said that accounting and dividend are also important for the success of the Corporate Value-up Program, for which there needs to be a proper balance in companies financial and non-financial factors and shareholder returns. Vice Chairman Kim then outlined a few more incentive programs intended to promote corporate value-up. Exemption from Periodic External Auditor Designation Requirement Under the current external auditor designation system, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), which is a subsidiary organization under the FSC, directly designates an external auditor for three years after companies have had their own choice of auditors for six years. This was first introduced with the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies, which became effective in November 2018 under a broad consensus for the need to overhaul the accounting system with aims to strengthen the autonomy of auditors. However, it has been pointed out that this mandatory external auditor designation requirement has been an unnecessary burden for companies that already have an excellent internal audit process that is able to effectively monitor and check management practices. When this type of outmodedness in our companies governance structure is pointed out as a reason for the problem of Korea discount, it is necessary to remove unnecessary burden and encourage companies to take self-driven efforts to improve the
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Apr 01, 2024

FSC Chairman Meets with Bank CEOs and Holds Talks on Promoting Innovation in the Banking Industry

Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission met with the CEOs of major commercial banks and held talks on ways to promote innovation and seek progress in the banking sector on April 1. At the meeting, the bank CEOs shared their progress regarding the implementation of specific measures intended to improve the management and operating practices of banks. In his opening remarks, Chairman Kim expressed appreciation for the banking sectors contribution of KRW2.1 trillion in financial assistance programs for vulnerable sectors, and emphasized the need to continue to push for innovation in the banking sector through competition. In addition, Chairman Kim talked about recent changes shown by the banking sector in actively making improvements to their management and operating practices by enhancing the role of corporate financing and reducing their dependence on mortgage lending. To support their efforts for change, Chairman Kim said that the government will take bold steps to make regulatory improvements regarding banks ancillary services. Chairman Kim also called for the need to thoroughly prepare for the adoption of a responsibilities mapping system in the banking sector from July this year to help to strengthen internal control mechanisms. At the meeting, the bank CEOs demonstrated their willingness to step up efforts to strengthen protection for consumers. Based on the issues and suggestions that have been raised and discussed at todays meeting, the FSC plans to continue to engage with the banking sector and other experts to continue to promote innovation. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Apr 01, 2024

KRW11 Trillion-plus in Corporate Financing Support from the Banking Sector to be Provided to MMEs and SMEs

The Financial Services Commission announced that corporate financing support programs for middle market enterprises (MMEs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will begin to be provided from the banking sector from April 1. This is a part of the total KRW76 trillion-plus corporate financing measures announced in last February, made available by close cooperation between policy financial institutions and five major commercial banks. First, the Korea Development Bank (KDB) and five major commercial banks will provide KRW6 trillion in low interest rate loans exclusively for MMEs that are attempting to enter into new growth sectors and expand their business operation. Qualified MMEs are eligible to receive up to KRW150 billion per business for facilities investment, funding for research and development, and operating costs with the benefit of 1%p reduction in interest rates. Qualified MMEs should meet the industry and/or production requirement specified by the common criteria for innovative growth, which lay out specific industry areas and products qualified for policy funding support for innovative growth. Second, the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and five major commercial banks will provide about KRW5 trillion in interest support program for SMEs that are operating on a normal financial condition but are having difficulties with heavy interest burdens. In this regard, qualified SMEsthose with loans with interest rates of more than 5.0 percentare eligible to receive up to 5 percent reduction in interest rates for one year. When qualified SMEs apply for this interest support program with their lenders, their qualification will be verified by the lender, and they can choose to receive the interest reduction benefit for one year either immediately or from the time of refinancing. Third, the prompt liquidity support program made available for SMEs from the banking sector will be operated on an expanded basis. The liquidity support program was first introduced by
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Mar 28, 2024

FSC Chairman's Visit to Poland Helped to Strengthen Foundation for Bilateral Financial Cooperation

Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission visited Warsaw, Poland and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Vienna, Austria from March 24 to 28. Korea-Poland Bank Federations MOU and Joint Seminar Chairman Kim attended the Korea-Poland banking associations memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony and joint seminar event held on March 25 and delivered congratulatory remarks. In his speech, Chairman Kim said that enhanced partnership between the banking groups of the two countries will help to propel economic cooperation between the two countries and expressed strong support for this partnership. Meeting with Chair of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority On March 25, Chairman Kim met with Jacek Jastrzebski, Chair of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. This marked the first meeting between chief financial authorities of two countries. At the meeting, both sides shared a common view on the significance of strengthening financial cooperation between the two countries against the backdrop of deepening economic cooperation and trade relations in the defense materials and nuclear plant sectors. The two leaders also discussed ways to facilitate Korean banks to gain authorization to operate in Poland and agreed to work for a prompt conclusion of an MOU on supervisory cooperation. Both sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in extending support for SMEs and startup businesses. Chairman Kim invited Chair Jacek to Seoul for the signing of the MOU, and Chair Jacek responded favorably to his invitation. Meeting with Korean Companies Doing Business in Poland On March 26, Chairman Kim met with a group of Korean enterprises doing business in Poland in the defense materials, battery, and auto parts industries and held talks on their local operating conditions and financing difficulties. At the meeting, Chairman Kim said that providing export financing support is one of the governments key policy agendas and that
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Mar 27, 2024

Government to Ensure Provision of Financial Support for Vulnerable Sectors

The Financial Services Commission announced the governments plan to ensure provision of financial support intended to help improve conditions for vulnerable sectors on March 27. To reduce the financing burden of SMEs and small merchants and boost their operating conditions, the following measures have been prepared. First, for SMEs, KRW41.6 trillion in funding support will begin to be provided from April, and additional guarantee support (KRW1.7 trillion) for small merchants will also be sought after through coordination between related ministries. Second, banks will continue to work on making sure that their own interest refund programs for small merchants amounting to about KRW1.5 trillion are being implemented seamlessly. Interest refunds from nonbanks, amounting to about KRW300 billion, will begin to be paid out from the end of March. Borrowers with high interest rate loans (7% or higher interest rates) will have opportunities to switch to lower interest rate loans. In addition, the banking sector plans to make available KRW600 billion more in financing support for vulnerable groups from April. Banks will make contributions to relevant agencies in support for lower income households and small merchants. Third, there will be steady provision of support for small merchants to help them recover and regain footing through debt adjustment (New Start Fund) and credit recovery support. As of the end of February 2024, about 175,000 individuals have already benefited from this credit recovery support program, with their credit scores increased by an average of 102 points. To ensure stability in the housing market, the government will bolster support for project financed real estate development projects and actively seek to resolve difficulties of construction firms through a private-public joint effort. First, additional support in the form of loan guarantees amounting to a total of KRW9 trillion is newly planned for property developments under PF loans (KRW5 trillion) a
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Mar 27, 2024

New Operating Rules on Virtual Asset Market Inspection to Ensure Strict Investigation and Punishment on Unfair Trades

The Financial Services Commission issued a preliminary notice for the enactment of new operating rules on the inspection of virtual asset market being proposed for public comment from March 28 to May 7. The new operating rules will specifically deal with details of the procedures and methods regarding the examination and investigation of unfair trading activities in the virtual asset market. Pursuant to the Act on the Protection of Virtual Asset Users (the Act hereinafter), which is scheduled to go into effect from July 19 this year, unfair trading activities involving virtual assets, such as the use of material nonpublic information, price manipulation, and other fraudulent activities, are prohibited and subject to criminal punishment or penalty surcharge.Once the Act becomes effective, unfair trading activities (or suspicious transactions) involving virtual assets will be first (a) monitored by virtual asset service providers (VASPs), then the case will be (b) examined by the FSC and the FSS (Financial Supervisory Service) to bring a formal charge with the prosecutors office, which will then (c) investigate the case for (d) imposing a criminal punishment or penalty surcharge. In this regard, the new operating rules being proposed prescribe specific procedures and methods for each stage of the investigation process. First, upon finding a suspicious transaction activity, VASPs should take appropriate measures to protect users, by issuing a warning, fact-checking about the rumor and disclosing findings, restricting orders, suspending transactions, and so on. When it is suspected to have detected an unfair trading activity, VASPs should report the case to the FSC and the FSS. When there is enough corroborating evidence demonstrating that an unfair trading activity took place, or if a request has been received from an investigative authority about an ongoing investigation, VASPs should immediately report the case to the prosecutors office. Second, the FSC and the FSS a
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Mar 25, 2024

FSC to Bolster the Role and Function of the Council on International Financial Cooperation

The Financial Services Commission and the Council on International Financial Cooperation announced measures to bolster the role and function of the CIFC for 2024 on March 25. The CIFC was launched in 2013 with aims to support domestic financial institutions business expansion overseas and facilitate their sharing of experience and know-how with other countries. Financial institutions from the public and private sectors as well as financial industry associations are members to the CIFC, which is currently run by the Korea Institute of Finance. Since its establishment, domestic financial institutions demand for overseas business expansion has grown. In order to meet this demand and more systematically support domestic financial companies overseas business expansion, the FSC has prepared the following measures to bolster the role and function of the CIFC. First, the networking program including forums and seminars will be held more frequently and more in association with other relevant programs made available by international organizations, for instance. Second, an integrated database system will be set up to facilitate information sharing and exchange between members. Third, the training program will be overhauled to provide more effective vocational training courses on a longer-term basis. Fourth, a visiting scholars program will be newly introduced to invite senior officers from overseas financial regulatory agencies for joint research projects and collaboration. In 2024, this research program will begin with Indonesia and then be expanded to Vietnam. In 2024, the CIFC plans to hold financial cooperation forums twice to provide more opportunities for networking. The CIFC has plans to offer long-term training courses to foreign government officials from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. With its organizational capacity expected to grow beginning from this year, the CIFCs role of serving as a control tower for domestic financial sectors business expansion overse
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Mar 25, 2024

FSC Chairman to Visit Poland to Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation in Financial Sector

Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission will travel to Poland from March 24 to 27. The visit will mark the first such trip to Poland by an FSC Chairman and underscore increased demand for cooperation in the financial sector since a bilateral summit took place between the two countries in July last year. In the wake of the Korea-Poland summit held in July last year, domestic banks have shown growing interest in expanding business to the Central European country, since Koreas exports to Poland in defense materials, nuclear plants, and infrastructure are expected to rise in the future. In this regard, on Monday, March 25, FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun will meet with the Chair of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority and express the Korean government and financial sectors strong commitment to ensure seamless financing for various cooperation projects. At the meeting, Chairman Kim will also seek active cooperation from his Polish counterpart to facilitate Korean banks business operation there. In Poland, Chairman Kim also plans to meet with Korean companies doing business in Poland in defense, battery, and auto parts sectors and hold talks on local market conditions and ways to help resolve their difficulties. Chairman Kim will also attend seminars organized by both countries financial and fintech industry groups and demonstrate support. The FSC expects that Chairman Kims Poland visit will help to expand the horizon of bilateral cooperation to the financial sector and make great contributions to large-scale cooperation projects and trades between the two countries. On a second leg of his trip, Chairman Kim will travel to Austria to meet with officials from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and sign an MOU (memorandum of understanding) aimed at strengthening cooperation to promote Korean financial and fintech companies business expansion and operation in developing countries. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 19, 2024

FSC Chairman Meets with Banking Sector to Discuss Measures to Boost Climate Finance

Chairman Kim Joo-hyun of the Financial Services Commission presided over a meeting with officials from relevant government and industry organizations and heads of major commercial banks and policy financial institutions on March 19 and unveiled a set of measures intended to boost climate finance. At the meeting, a set of measures intended to boost green investment to speed up low carbon transition was also introduced by the Ministry of Environment. The following is a summary of Chairman Kims opening remarks. Unprecedented challenges posed by climate change today require us to act not only for securing the competitiveness of our enterprises but also for guaranteeing security for future generations. Development in climate technologies needs to take place alongside a reduction in carbon emission and transition to clean energy. Against this backdrop, the FSC has prepared the following measures to bolster climate finance. First, the role of policy financial institutions will be enhanced to facilitate businesses in making low carbon transition. Until 2030, five major policy financial institutions will increase their annual green funds supply by about 67 percent on average for a total supply of about KRW420 trillion. Second, the financial industry will actively invest in building facilities for renewable energies. In this regard, a future energy fund will be newly created in the amount of KRW9 trillion with contributions made from the banking sector for operation until 2030. This will be used to provide sufficient supply of venture capital to meet financing needs of investment for clean energy facilities, which is estimated to be about KRW160 trillion. Third, a climate technology fund in the amount of KRW3 trillion will also be set up with contributions made from the banking sector, which will provide funding support to cultivate promising companies in the field of climate technologies. Todays meeting marks a very important first step towards countering climate risks as it
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Mar 18, 2024

OECD-FSC-KIF Roundtable on Digital Finance in ASEAN Held on March 18-19

The Financial Services Commission held a joint roundtable meeting on digital finance in ASEAN with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) for two days on March 18-19. The roundtable was organized around the topic of digital finance, offering officials a chance to share relevant policy trends and to discuss ways to address newly emerging risks arising from digital transformation in the financial sector. The two-day roundtable meeting will be participated by many officials and experts from Asia and OECD member economies. The roundtable meeting will deal with the following topics(a) digital assets, CBDCs and tokenization, (b) DeFi and crypto-assets in ASEAN and beyond, (c) cyber-security in the financial sector, (d) artificial intelligence in finance, and (e) generative AI in finance in Asia and ASEAN. During the opening session, FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung delivered opening remarks where he said that financial innovation based on digital technologies hasbeen making positive impact on boosting the level of productivity in the financial industry. However, Vice Chairman Kim stressed the need to establish appropriate rules and ensure protection for consumers in response to newly emerging risks. Moreover, as there are increasing international exchanges taking place in the financial industry, Vice Chairman Kim said that Korea will seek to strengthen cooperation with international organizations and ASEAN economies to share the latest financial industry trends and ensure regulatory consistency with global standards. The FSC will take into account the global trends and key issues dealt by the roundtable meeting for future policy reference. The FSC will continue to work on strengthening financial cooperation with other countries and international organizations. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 14, 2024

FSC Meets with Institutional Investors to Promote Active Participation in the Corporate Value-up Program

The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with institutional investors on the Corporate Value-up Program chaired by FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung on March 14. The meeting was attended by ten major institutional investors, including pension funds, asset managers, insurers, and securities firms, as well as officials from related organizations, such as the Korea Exchange, Financial Supervisory Service, Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability, and Korea Capital Market Institute. At the meeting, officials held discussions on how the stewardship code for institutional investors will be updated to promote their role in the Corporate Value-up Program and developing a new Korea value-up index. At the beginning of the meeting, Vice Chairman Kim delivered opening remarks, highlighting the three main principles behind the governments continuous push to end Korea discount(a) establishing a fair and transparent market order, (b) making Koreas capital market more accessible, and (c) promoting shareholder values in corporate management. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim said that the Corporate Value-up Program is a part of the governments consistent efforts to upgrade our capital market with a focus on encouraging listed companies to make voluntary steps to make improvements and increase valuations. Since the stewardship code for institutional investors has been updated to specifically underscore their crucial role in the Corporate Value-up Program, Vice Chairman Kim urged institutional investors to more actively communicate with companies about the need and benefit of taking self-driven measures to boost corporate values. Regarding the development of a new Korea value-up index, Vice Chairman Kim said that authorities have been studying various cases from overseas and running simulations to ensure that the newly created benchmark index can be put to greater use by institutional investors. The stewardship code for institutional investors contains seven spec
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Mar 13, 2024

Household Loans, February 2024

In February 2024, the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors fell KRW1.8 trillion (preliminary), declining for the first time since March 2023. * Change (in trillion KRW, y-o-y): +2.4 (Sep 2023), +6.2 (Oct), +2.6 (Nov), +0.1 (Dec), +0.9 (Jan 2024), -1.8 (Feb)p (By Type) Home mortgage loans increased KRW3.7 trillion, edging up at a slightly slower pace compared with the previous month (up KRW4.1 trillion). Mortgage loans from banks went up KRW4.7 trillion, showing a similar pace of growth from the previous month (up KRW4.9 trillion). Mortgage loans from nonbanks fell at a faster rate (from down KRW0.8 trillion a month before to down KRW1.0 trillion in February 2024). Other types of loans declined KRW5.5 trillion with drops seen in the banking and nonbanking sectors. (By Sector) Household loans grew in the banking sector at a slower pace while expanding at a faster pace in the nonbanking sector. Banks saw an increase of KRW2.0 trillion in household loans in February, a drop from an increase of KRW3.4 trillion in the previous month. Mortgage loans from banks fell somewhat from the previous month due to significant declines in policy mortgage loans and group lending for new apartment subscriptions. Other types of loans fell at a faster pace (from down KRW1.5 trillion to down KRW2.7 trillion) led by credit loans. In the nonbanking sector, household loans declined KRW3.8 trillion, falling at a faster pace compared with the previous month (down KRW2.5 trillion). Mutual finance businesses (down KRW3.0 trillion) and insurance companies (down KRW0.6 trillion) saw continuing declines in household loans, and savings banks (down KRW0.1 trillion) and specialized credit finance companies (down KRW0.1 trillion) also saw household loans drop from a month before. (Assessment) Although the outstanding balance of household loans across all financial sectors declined in February for the first time since March 2023, there is growing demand for refinancing loa
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Mar 12, 2024

Provision of Prompt Credit Recovery Support Available for Borrowers in Payment Delinquency

The Financial Services Commission announced that prompt credit recovery support will be provided to borrowers in payment delinquency starting from March 12. The credit recovery support will be provided to the borrowers who accrued delinquent payment history of up to KRW20 million between September 1, 2021 and January 31, 2024 and will havefully paid off their late payments by May 31, 2024. According to relevant credit information agencies, there are some 2.98 million individuals and 310,000 individual business owners in payment delinquency. Among them, about 2.64 million individuals and 175,000 individual business owners were found to have completely paid off their late payments as of the end of February 2024. Starting from today, borrowers with delinquent payment history can check their eligibility on the website of individual credit rating and information companies. For those who have already paid off their late payments, their credit scores will be increased automatically without the need to apply for this separately. For the rest of the borrowersabout 340,000 individuals and 135,000 individual business owners who have yet to completely pay off their late paymentsthe credit recovery support will be provided once they have paid off their late payments in full by May 31, 2024. Moreover, starting from today, the period for keeping and making use of borrowers debt adjustment records by Korea Credit Information Services will be reduced from two years previously to one year. Accordingly, if the borrower has faithfully made payments in accordance with the debt adjustment plan agreed by the lender for one year, his or her debt workout history will no longer be shared with financial institutions after one year. According to Korea Credit Information Services, about 50,000 individuals will benefit from this change. Attending the event commemorating the launch of prompt credit recovery support today, FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun said that the credit support programs being intro
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Mar 11, 2024

FSC and FSS Join APRC MMoU to Strengthen Supervisory Cooperation in Capital Markets

The Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service officially became signatories to the multilateral memorandum of understanding (MMoU) of the Asia Pacific Regional Committee (APRC) under the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on March 8. The APRC is made up of capital market supervisors and regulators from 22 countries across the region of Asia-Pacific. Prior to Korea joining the MMoU, there were 10 member countries already signed up for the supervisory cooperation MMoU, including Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Bangladesh. If the number of signatories grows in the future, the scope of cooperation is expected to grow further. This MMoU on supervisory cooperation was established with aims to strengthen supervisory cooperation and information exchange on securities and derivatives markets among market regulators in the Asia-Pacific region. With the signing of the MMoU, the FSC and the FSS expect to have an enhanced level of supervisory cooperation with overseas regulators. Prior to this, the FSC and the FSS had joined the IOSCO MMoU and E-MMoU (Enhanced MMoU) frameworks in 2010 and 2019, respectively, to enhance cooperation on investigating unfair trading activities and to bolster sharing and exchanging of information. The FSC and the FSS plan to make continuous effort to facilitate seamless exchange of information and mutual cooperation with capital market supervisors and regulators from other countries. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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Mar 11, 2024

Application for Interest Refunds from Nonbank Lenders to be Available for Small Merchants from March 18

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) announced that small merchants who borrowed from nonbank financial institutions with interest rates ranging from 5 percent to 7 percent as of December 31, 2023 will be able to apply for interest refunds from their lenders starting from March 18. From March 13, the nonbank financial institutions, such as savings banks, mutual finance businesses, and specialized credit finance businesses, will start notifying their customers about the availability of this interest refund support program through their website or via mobile text message. Borrowers who are eligible to receive interest refunds will be able to apply starting from March 18. Interest refunds will begin to be paid out starting from March 29. For a borrower to be eligible to receive interest refunds, he or she should have made interest payments for at least a full-year. Once the lender verifies the receipt of a full-year interest payments, the borrower will receive interest refunds within six business days from the last business day of the first quarter that falls after the borrower made full-year interest payments. For those holding multiple loan accounts, interest payments should have been made for a full-year on all of their loan accounts to be eligible for the payback in interest refunds. Thus, borrowers are advised to check whether they have made interest payments for a full-year before applying. The refund rate on loans will vary depending on actual borrowing rates adopted as of the last day of December 2023. For loans with interest rates ranging from 5.0 percent to 5.5 percent, a refund rate of 0.5 percent will be applied. For loans with interest rates ranging from 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent, the refund rate will be determined as a difference between the actual interest rate adopted and 5 percent. For loans with interest rates ranging from 6.5 percent to 7 percent, a refund rate of 1.5 percent will be applied. The maximu
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Mar 06, 2024

Authorities Hold Meeting on Policy Finance to Discuss Operation of KRW5 Trillion Fund for MMEs

The Financial Services Commission held the 6th consultative body meeting on policy finance with related government ministries and policy financial institutions on March 6. FSC Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung presided over the meeting and delivered opening remarks where he emphasized the need for policy financial institutions to frontload the implementation of policy funds as much as possible in the first half of this year in line with the planned frontloading of fiscal spending by the government amid ongoing challenges in the economy. At todays meeting, officials discussed the launching of a fund specifically designed to support middle market enterprises (MMEs). The MME investment fund will be created in the size of about KRW5 trillion with contribution from the banking sector, and it is expected to provide a significant boost to MMEs in their attempt to venture into new industries or expand their operations. Second, officials discussed this years plan for operating the innovative growth fund, which has been set up for operation since last year with aims to boost future growth engines and cultivate innovative venture businesses. For 2023-2027, the innovative growth fund aims to supply KRW15 trillion worth of policy funding support. Last year, despite challenges resulting from high interest rates, the total volume of funds raised at the end of the year surpassed the initial target of KRW3 trillion. For this year, officials decided to raise additional KRW3 trillion for the operation of the innovative growth fund, which will help to facilitate investment in climate related and artificial intelligence technologies. Third, officials discussed ways to refine impact analysis to better examine the effectiveness of policy finance support provided to enterprises through a close input-output analysis performed by Korea Credit Information Services and Korea Institute of Finance. The result of their analysis will be utilized to improve efficiency in the allocation of policy funds supp
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Mar 04, 2024

Rule Changes Proposed for Upgrading Regulation on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions

The Financial Services Commission issued a preliminary notice of rule changes being proposed for improving regulations on corporate mergers and acquisitions under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). The revisions being proposed for the enforcement decree of the FSCMA and its subordinate regulation on the issuance and disclosure of securities contain measures to strengthen disclosure duties, improve the process of external evaluation, and upgrade the method for calculating merger prices. First, with regard to enhancing disclosure duties, the revision proposal mandates listed companies to disclose written statements about their board of directors meetings with details regarding what has been discussed and decided on MA related issues. This will ensure that general shareholders can have access to information regarding corporate MA activities. The board of directors written statement should contain information about the purpose of merger, its anticipated effect, merger price and ratio, as well as any dissenting opinion. The board of directors written statement about MAs should be disclosed as an attachment to the securities registration and material disclosure for that particular year. This will help to ensure more responsibility from boards of directors and increased fairness and transparency in the process of MAs. Second, regarding rules on the external evaluation process, the revision proposal establishes a code of conduct for external evaluation agencies to bolster fairness and credibility. In this regard, external evaluation agencies will be required to maintain their own quality management standards, or otherwise be barred from serving as an external evaluator. Their quality management standards should address issues relating to the maintenance of autonomy, objectivity, and fairness, conflicts of interest, confidentiality, and actions to be taken for misconduct. An external evaluation agency offering third-party evaluation service to
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Feb 28, 2024

Rule Changes Proposed Regarding Insider Transactions under the FSCMA

The Financial Services Commission issued a preliminary notice of rule changes being proposed concerning the ex-ante disclosure requirement for insider transactions under the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). With regard to the ex-ante disclosure requirement for insider transactions, the revision proposal specifies the entities that will be exempted from the disclosure duty, the volume and type of transactions that will be exempted from the disclosure duty, and the procedure and method for disclosure. First, the rule changes being proposed exempt pension funds and other financial investors that are expected to have higher levels of internal control standards and are unlikely to misuse material nonpublic informationsuch as collective investment vehicles, banks, insurance companies, specialized credit finance companies, financial investment businesses, venture capital firms, and the Korea SMEs and Startups Agencyfrom the duty to disclose their stock transaction plans in advance for insider transactions. Moreover, an exemption from the ex-ante disclosure duty will also be granted to foreign investors that are deemed to have an equivalent status to the above mentioned domestic financial investors to ensure more equal treatment of both domestic and foreign investors. Second, the rule changes being proposed grant an exemption if the volume of transactions in particular securities typesover the past six months is less than one percent of the total number of shares issued by the company within that particular year and if the total amount of transactions is less than KRW5 billion. Moreover, an exemption from the ex-ante disclosure duty will also be granted for transactions resulting from a statutory requirement, tender offers, or acquisitions or dispositions following corporate spin-offs or mergers. Third, the rule changes being proposed require that companies insider transaction plans specify the expected transaction price and volume as well as t
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Feb 27, 2024

FSC Vice Chairman Holds Investor Relations in Singapore and Introduces the Corporate Value-up Program

Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission held an investor relations event in Singapore with major institutional investors from Asia participating on February 27. During the dialogue, Vice Chairman Kim outlined the governments capital market reform initiatives with a particular attention on the recently announced Corporate Value-up Program, which have gained much interest from both domestic and overseas investors. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Kims remarks. The Korean governments capital market reform measures have been focused on the following three areas. First, to establish a fair and transparent market order, the government has bolstered measures against unfair trading activities. A temporary ban on short-selling has been put in place to make trading conditions more equal for both retail and institutional investors and to build a completely electronic short-selling transaction system designed to prevent naked short-selling activities. Second, to make Koreas capital markets more accessible to investors, the authorities have already abolished the foreign investors registration requirement, mandated companies to file disclosures in English in phases, and eased the reporting requirement to facilitate the use of omnibus account. To help expand domestic investor base, the government has already decided to repeal the planned introduction of capital gains tax on financial investments and plans to expand tax benefits for individual savings accounts (ISAs). Third, to promote shareholder values in corporate management practices, the government has been consistently working on various measures aimed at protecting the rights of general shareholders. As a consequence, many large companies have now adopted the improved dividend payout procedure in which investors are able to make investment decisions while knowing how much they will receive in dividends. In addition, the Corporate Value-up Program, which was unveiled on February 26, is design
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Feb 26, 2024

Mortgage Loans from Banks to be Subject to Stressed Debt Service Ratio Limits from February 26

The Financial Services Commission announced that home-backed mortgage loans issued by banks will be subject to the stressed debt service ratio (DSR) rule from Monday, February 26. The stressed DSR systemimposes a certain level of additional stress rate when calculating the borrowers DSR as it takes into account the possibility of heavier repayment burdens with increases in future interest rates. From February 26 to June 30, 2024, an additional stress rate of 0.38 percent will be applied to mortgage loans from banks. Accordingly, the maximum amount a borrower can take out for a mortgage loan will be lowered by a two to four percent depending on how the mortgage payment schedule is structured. As the authorities plan to gradually phase in the stressed DSR system to help minimize shock to borrowers, its application will be expanded to credit loans issued by banks and home mortgage loans issued by nonbanks in the second half of this year. While closely monitoring how the market is adjusting to the system, the authorities will expand its application to all types of household loans subject to the DSR rule from 2025. The FSC expects that the newly introduced stressed DSR rule will help lenders to more closely examine borrowers repayment capability with a mid- to long-term perspective and help consumers to become more aware of the risk of interest rate volatility in the long term, thereby helping to improve the structure of household debt in qualitative terms. * Please refer to the attached PDF for details.
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