FSC promotes fintech and innovation in financial services. In order to encourage convergence and collaboration between finance and information technology, FSC launched the financial regulatory sandbox scheme in April 2019, through which more than one hundred ‘innovative financial services’ have been designated. The regulatory sandbox program allows fintechs and start-ups to test out their ideas without worrying about the regulatory impediments. In addition, Korea’s open banking system was fully launched in December 2019, opening up payment networks to both banks and fintechs through a joint network. By creating a financial data exchange platform, fostering MyData industry and opening up extensive sets of public financial data stored at major public institutions, FSC is also working to create an environment where big data and AI can play a larger role in finance. Policies intended to promote innovation also include providing tailored support to the Korean fintech firms to help them grow and scale up as global unicorns by easing regulations, expanding investment and providing assistance for overseas business expansion.
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Nov 06, 2023
- FSC Selects 10 Outstanding Fintech Firms for 'K-Fintech 30'
- The Financial Services Commission announced on November 6 that the authorities have selected 10 innovative fintech businesses as the first batch of the K-Fintech 30 program, which aims to provide comprehensive funding and consulting support to a total of 30 outstanding fintech firms selected until 2025. For this round, the selected fintech businesses are Moin, Village Baby, SentBe, CTech, Akros Technologies, Aizen Global, Aims, Fount, Fin2B and Hanpass. At this round of selection for ten businesses, a total of 52 promising fintech firms competed to secure a spot, and the selection results have been drawn from a thorough review on the innovativeness and growth potential of their business models assessed by an expert committee. On average, the selected fintech firms were found to be in operation for 6.6 years, had annual earnings of about KRW5.55 billion, employed 57.1 persons and secured KRW18.0 billion in investment (as of July 2023). The selected fintech businesses will be able to benefit from a series of scale-up assistance programs, including various policy funding support opportunities, relevant financing services offered by individual financial companies, greater opportunities to secure investments and pitch their business ideas through IR events, fintech-focused counseling and support for overseas business expansion. More specifically, they will be eligible to receive various preferential lending benefits offered by policy financial institutions, such as reductions in interest rates and guarantee fees. Individual financial companies are also planning to provide support packages linked with their own fintech lab programs. The Korea Growth Investment Corporation and D-Camp will provide assistance to match innovative fintech businesses with investors and help them with IR opportunities. Lastly, the 10 selected fintech firms can also take advantage of other supports made available, such as consulting support for those applying for the financial sandbox program, as
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Oct 16, 2023
- Taskforce on ESG Finance Holds Meeting to Discuss Ways to Introduce ESG Disclosure System
- The Financial Services Commission held the third meeting of the taskforce on promoting ESG finance on October 16. Set up in February this year, the taskforce on ESG finance consists of representatives from businesses, investors, academia, experts and relevant institutions, and is aimed at exploring various policy tasks on the issues encompassing ESG disclosure, assessment and investment. At todays taskforce meeting, the authorities discussed the roadmap for introducing an ESG disclosure system in domestic market. In opening remarks, FSC Vice Chairman Kim So-young spoke about the significance and the underlying principle of introducing an ESG disclosure system in Korea. The following is a summary of Vice Chairman Kims remarks. First, introducing an ESG disclosure system in domestic market is important as this will help to improve domestic firms ability to adapt to the strengthened ESG regulatory environment overseas. As domestic firms are both directly and indirectly affected by global value chains, it is necessary to lay a regulatory foundation to help them adjust to the strengthening of relevant regulations in major overseas markets. Second, introducing an ESG disclosure system can make contributions for a sustainable growth of our economy and industries. This will also help our economy make a transition from the one centered on quantitative growth to the one driven by qualitative growth. Third, introducing an ESG disclosure system will induce domestic firms to seek more technological innovation in line with the shifting global paradigm toward digital transformation and low carbon society. In this regard, establishing rules on ESG disclosure will take into account the standards set forth by major economies and international organizations and give ample considerations for particular characteristics of domestic market and businesses. Second, applying the ESG disclosure rules on businesses will take place in phases, starting with large listed companies first and then
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Aug 30, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week Begins
- Koreas annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, will be held for three days from August 30 to September 1 with domestic fintech firms, financial companies, relevant organizations and foreign governments and institutions joining at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. The three-day (Aug 30 to Sep 1) fintech expo this year is the largest ever in its scale featuring a variety of exhibition halls as well as seminars and educational and experiential programs under the theme of the new wave of fintech. During the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman Kim So-young of the Financial Services Commission delivered welcoming remarks in which he emphasized the need to revitalize the fintech industry to propel innovation and continuous growth of the fintech industry. In this regard, Vice Chairman Kim laid out three key policy directions to support the fintech industry. First, the government will strengthen support for fintech firms business expansion to overseas markets. Second, the government will facilitate more cooperation between financial companies and fintech businesses. Third, the government will reform fintech regulations to make them more reasonable to ensure that fintech businesses are able to take advantage of new technologies and drive innovation. At the same time, Vice Chairman Kim said that the government will directly engage and communicate with fintech enterprises and make sure that a variety of assistance is available on the ground so that our fintech industry can continue to grow amid digital transformation. Following the opening ceremony, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing event was held between financial companies, big tech platform businesses and Korea Growth Investment Corporation for establishing a second batch of fintech innovation fund in the amount of KRW500 billion for four years (2024-2027). After the opening ceremony featuring speeches by notable dignitaries, a policy briefing session is scheduled to be held during which visitors can
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Aug 21, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week to Kick Off August 30
- The annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, will kick off on August 30 with domestic fintech firms, financial companies, relevant organizations and foreign governments and institutions joining at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. The three-day (Aug 30 to Sep 1) fintech expo will be the largest ever in its scale featuring a variety of exhibition halls as well as seminars and educational and experiential programs under the theme of the new wave of fintech. After an opening ceremony featuring speeches by notable dignitaries, a policy briefing session is scheduled to be held during which visitors can learn about the Korean governments fintech policies as well as relevant fintech support programs made available by regional government bodies. Twelve different themed seminars are scheduled throughout the three-day expo period, inviting fintech experts and related organizations to have in-depth discussions about some of the most trending issues in fintech, such as payments, security, data usage, collaboration with a financial company and entering overseas markets. In particular, a joint fintech session with major international organizations (WB, EBRD, UNIDO and IFC) will provide an invaluable opportunity for visitors to get insights into global fintech trends and future development of the industry as the seminar will deal with the topics such as fintech and the future finance and linking sustainable development and fintech. There will be 82 exhibition booths organized into the fintech hall, financial hall, cooperating organizations hall and global exhibitor hall, showcasing innovative technologies and products from 107 businesses and organizations, which is the largest scale ever in terms of the number of on-site exhibition booths. A variety of helpful programs and events including global fintech: spoken by foreigners, fintech connecting day, fintech idea contest and fintech company IR pitching day as well as fintech job mentoring and career consulting wi
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Jul 27, 2023
- Authorities Propose Measures to Improve Special Listing Procedures for High-tech Companies
- The Financial Services Commission held a meeting with the relevant government ministries and private sector entities on July 27 and unveiled a plan to improve the special listing procedures for technology companies. The plan includes 14 specific reform items from the stage of listing application to listing review to post-listing management. First, in the listing application stage, a new super gap tech listing track will be created for high-tech and strategically critical technology companies, for instance in deep tech or deep science sectors. Among them, businesses that are market-tested for their growth potential will be allowed to have a tech assessment conducted only by a single entity. They need to be designated as national strategic technology companies or national advanced strategic technology companies as prescribed by the relevant laws, have market capitalization of KRW100 billion or more and have received investment of KRW10 billion or more in the past five years. In addition, a business eligible to apply for the super gap tech listing track will be allowed to seek a special tech listing track even when its largest investor is a middle market enterprise, considering wide adoption of open innovation business models based on collaboration between an SME and a middle market enterprise. However, the size of investment by a middle market enterprise will be limited to less than fifty percent to prevent potential problems regarding the ownership of the company. Also, the complex structure of the current special tech listing track will be made simpler and more reasonable. For instance, businesses with technological prowess will be able to apply through innovative technology track, while those with distinctive business models can apply through business model track. Second, in the listing review stage, a fast-track review process will be granted to those that have been turned down previously for reasons other than their technology or business viability. In this case,
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Jul 19, 2023
- FSC Designates Eight More Data Specializing Institutions to Promote Big Data Analytics
- The Financial Services Commission held the 14th regular meeting on July 19 and designated eight additional data specializing institutions (BC Card, Samsung SDS, Samsung Card, Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Card, LG CNS, Coocon, and Statistics Korea), bringing the total number of data specializing institutions to twelve. Data specializing institutions provide data convergence service on behalf of businesses when they develop new business strategies or services and evaluate the appropriateness of the pseudonymized data. In order to ensure the safety and efficiency of big data usage in financial sectors, data specializing institutions have been designated by the FSC since 2020 pursuant to the Credit Information Use and Protection Act. Since 2020, business demand for data convergence particularly between the financial and non-financial sectors has continued to increase. To ensure fairness, transparency and objectivity in data convergence, the seven newly designated data specializing institutions from the private sector other than Statistics Korea will be required to provide 50 percent or more of their data convergence services to non-affiliated external entities. With the addition of eight more data specializing institutions, it is expected that data convergence between different sectors as well as opening up of more private sector data will be promoted. * Please refer to the attached file for details.
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Jun 20, 2023
- Government to Provide Active Support to Facilitate Innovative Tech Companies to Raise Funds
- The Financial Services Commission announced on June 20 that the government will make all out efforts to facilitate innovative tech companies to raise funds through capital markets. To this end, the government plans to make changes to tech companies special listing rules and facilitate fundraising through MAs (mergers and acquisitions) and venture capital investment. First, in an inter-ministerial collaborative effort, the government plans to go on a series of roadshow in search for deep tech businesses to help cultivate their growth and listing on the stock exchange for about a month starting from June 21. Also, authorities will revamp the special listing system for tech companies and announce the improvement measures in July. Since 2005, the Korea Exchange has been operating various special KOSDAQ listing tracks for technologically innovative businesses or those with growth potential even when they are making no profit or have no sales record. So far, 184 companies made the listing on KOSDAQ through special listing tracks but still there are many startups and SMEs that are unaware of their eligibility or that lack relevant information. Thus, a month-long tech special listing roadshow will provide opportunities for tech companies to get information about the listing procedure and necessary preparatory work. Second, the FSC, the FSS and the KRX will set up a taskforce with relevant government ministries and other research and industry organizations with an aim to draw up measures to improve the rules and operation of special listing tracks for tech companies. The taskforce will look into the problem of having to go through a time-consuming and costly tech evaluation process for tech companies. Despite growing significance of open innovation where a startup company and a mid-sized company can make joint investment, the current regulations are restrictive for promising tech startups to scale up and commercialize their technology due to certain restrictions in the tech
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Jun 12, 2023
- 2023 Korea Fintech Week Scheduled to be Held from August 30 to September 1
- The annual global fintech expo, 2023 Korea Fintech Week, is scheduled to be held from Wednesday, August 30 to Friday, September 1 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul this year. The 2023 Korea Fintech Week will be held on the theme of the new wave of fintech, providing a venue for fintech businesses, financial companies, big tech platforms and investors to come together to share some of the latest fintech trends, pitch innovative business models and promote investment in the fintech industry. A variety of programs including fintech exhibitions, theme-based seminars and events for first-hand fintech experience will be available for participants. In order to actively support domestic fintech firms business expansion in overseas markets, this years Korea Fintech Week will have an expanded size of global hall to promote participation by many investors, accelerators and venture capitalists from many different countries. In addition, a collaboration hall will be newly set up for operation this year to encourage participation by the entire domestic fintech ecosystem including local government bodies, relevant organizations and universities. Also, a variety of helpful programs and events including a global fintech talk with a foreign influencer, fintech idea contest, finance-themed musical and fintech job mentoring and career consulting will be available to help visitors to learn about various fintech services and trends in an easy and fun way. It is expected that the 2023 Korea Fintech Week will provide vast opportunities to expand and reinvigorate Koreas fintech ecosystem. * Please refer to the attached filefor details.
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May 30, 2023
- Online One-stop Loan Transfer System Available
- The FSC announced that financial consumers will be able to make a switch from their existing credit loans to loans offering more favorable borrowing conditions using their smartphones without having to visit a branch office of financial institutions beginning on May 31. Establishing an online one-stop loan transfer system has been a key policy agenda of this administration to help alleviate peoples interest payment burdens and promote digital transformation in the financial sector and competition between banks. In this regard, the FSC has been closely working with the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Financial Telecommunications Clearings Institute, major financial companies and fintech businesses to launch an online one-stop loan transfer system. In particular, prior to its launch on May 31, authorities have closely looked into ways to improve user convenience and guarantee stability and security of the system. Beginning on May 31, consumers will be able to use their smartphone apps (MyData-enabled loan comparison platform app or major financial company apps) to search for loans offering better borrowing terms and make a switch from their existing credit loans issued by 53 financial institutions (19 banks, 18 savings banks, 7 credit card companies and 9 specialized credit finance businesses). The online one-stop loan transfer app service will be available during the banks operating hours from 9:00 am to 16:00 pm on business days. Consumers can use the loan transfer service for their existing credit loans of up to KRW1 billion issued by 53 financial companies. From the time of downloading a mobile app until completing the verification of result, the service usage time is estimated to be around fifteen minutes, which is significantly shorter than at least two business days it took for consumers to visit the branch office of two financial institutions previously. The loan conditions calculated for consumers will be based on the same lending standards (maximum
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May 17, 2023
- FSC Chairman Speaks about Opportunities and Challenges in Embracing AI in Financial Sector
- FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun attended a seminar on boosting the competitiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial sectors hosted by Korea Credit Information Services on May 17 and delivered congratulatory remarks. At todays seminar, experts from both public and private sectors shared key trends of AI usage in financial sectors and discussed policy strategies to boost the competitiveness of the financial industry. The following is a summary of FSC Chairman Kims remarks. Summary of FSC Chairmans Remarks The development of hyper-scale, generative AI has recently put a new spotlight on the potential of AI. Investment in AI and its usage have been growing in diverse areas where AI can be put to use to help increase convenience for consumers and make financial companies core functions more efficient. At the same time, it is also crucial to consider ways to effectively respond to situations of AI failures or digital herding. Financial institutions are strongly encouraged to invest in AI and make use of the technology to enhance the global competitiveness of domestic financial businesses. The FSC has been working to embrace the use of AI in financial services and will continue to provide active support in this regard. So far, authorities have introduced a number of guidelines on AI, for example, on using and developing AI in financial sectors, verifying AI-based credit scoring models and ensuring security in AI-based financial services. Going forward, first, the FSC plans to establish a data library for AI in financial sectors and designate more data specializing institutions to facilitate big data analytics. Second, the FSC will work to improve the regulatory environment on financial data to promote an expansion of new AI-based services. Lastly, the FSC will set up a testbed for AI in financial sectors and prepare a guideline on explainable AI (XAI) with a goal to help increase confidence in AI-based financial services. The FSC will work to ensure that the specific
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Apr 06, 2023
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Dec 26, 2022
- FSC Plans to Bolster Support to Promote Sustained Growth of Fintech Businesses
- The FSC announced a set of measures to strengthen support for fintech businesses, which is confirmed after discussion and deliberation at the 5th financial regulatory innovation committee meeting held on December 20. Against the backdrop of the current industrial situation where fintech businesses face funding shortages amid interest rate hikes, waning impetus of industrial growth and difficulties in expanding their business into overseas markets, these measures will expectedly boost multiple facets of fintech business supports, such as funding or promotion of startups. Key Measures I. Strengthen Support through Investment and Policy Funds a) (Increasing the Size of Fintech Innovation Fund) The size of the fintech innovation fund, initially planned as KRW500 billion for four years (2020-2023), will be increased to KRW1 trillion by adding KRW500 billion for another four years (2024-2027). Authorities will improve operation methods by (a) ensuring continuous operation of the early-stage fintech investment fund, which has been operated intermittently, and (b) newly creating a commercialization fund intended to make investment in those who seriously prepare business expansion at the commercialization stage. b) (Increasing Support through Policy Financial Institutions) Tailored support for fintech businesses will be made in the form of loans and guarantees from policy financial institutions in the amount of at least KRW200 billion a year. c) (Establishing Comprehensive Fintech Support System) Authorities will set up and operate Fintech Support Council, consisting of representatives form 14 institutionsthat currently operate their own fintech support programs, to make their support programs more systematic and effective. The participating institutions will establish a common databaseto monitor the growth history as well as the record of support provided for each fintech business. A fintech focused investor relations (IR) event will be held at least once every half a year.
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Dec 22, 2022
- FSC Unveils Measures to Improve Corporate Financial Data Infrastructure to Support More Businesses
- The FSC announced a plan to make improvements to the corporate financial data infrastructure to assist micro-enterprises, SMEs and innovative businesses for which the availability of relevant data infrastructure has been inadequate thus far. The key measures include (a) revamps of the corporate data management system operated by the Korea Credit Information Services (KCIS), (b) expansion of data sharing with financial sectors on innovative businesses in new industries, (c) improvement of the entry regulation for business credit bureaus (business CBs) more reasonable and enablement of CBs for data-specialized institutions and (d) reviewing a launch of MyData service tailored to the needs of sole proprietors. As these measures have been discussed at the 5th financial regulatory innovation committee meeting held on December 20, authorities will seek prompt implementation of the detailed measures. Background Financial authorities have successfully introduced various systems, including the financial MyData service and improvements to the personal credit rating system, to bring about innovation in consumer finance. In corporate finance, too, authorities have subdivided business CBs into several licensing unitsand lowered their entry requirement.However, there still exists insufficiency of credible data on micro-enterprises, SMEs and innovative businesses. For SMEs and micro-enterprises, there is not enough data being produced and distributed to be utilized in corporate finance, and business CBs capabilities of data management remain inadequate. As such, even when a company has decent repayment capacity, it may be asked for an excessive level of collateral or guarantee, or face the burden of unfavorable borrowing conditions such as a low level of maximum loan amount or high interest rate. For innovative businesses, due to inadequate information on new industries, financial institutions face difficulties in evaluating the growth potential and the innovativeness of new indus
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Dec 07, 2022
- FSC Chairman Attends KDB NextRound's Fintech Special Round and Speaks about Expanding Fintech Investment
- FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun attended the Fintech Special Round event hosted by the Korea Development Bank NextRound on December 7. At the event, Chairman Kim briefed on the direction of governments policy aimed to drive innovation in digital finance and cultivate the fintech industry, while encouraging fintech startups that seek to attract investment. Summary of Congratulatory Remarks by FSC Chairman FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun highlighted that the future of our financial industry is dependent on how well the government responds to the fourth industrial revolution and digital transformation as the pace of such shifts accelerates. To follow these shifts, the government has so far spared no effort to come up with multifaceted measures such as introduction of a financial regulatory sandbox program and creation of the fintech innovation fund. However, as global monetary tightening and the three highs such as inflation, high exchange rates and high interest rates, etc. intensify economic uncertainty, the venture business and startup markets around the globe are facing the severe funding winter, and fintech sectors are struggling with this difficult situation. Against this backdrop, Chairman Kim underscored his plan to strengthen policy support to help fintech companies to overcome this hard time and enlarge innovation capacity to drive the future of financial industry. The following shows details of this policy support. I. Expanding Availability of Funding Support for Fintech Startups The authorities will offer support to help innovative businesses grow such as introducing the innovation growth fund worth of KRW15 trillion for five years from 2023 and a new Silicon Valley-style lending program for venture businesses, which will offer loans combined with zero-interest rate bonds with warrants. Furthermore, the authorities plans to bolster the financial support system specialized for fintech businesses with increasing the size of the fintech innovation fund from KRW500 billion
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Nov 24, 2022
- FSC Chairman Meets with Venture Startups and Holds Talks on Boosting Investment
- FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun visited Mapo Front1, the largest startup support center in Korea, on November 24, where he held talks with venture businesses, venture capitalists and financial institutions. Chairman Kim listened to difficulties and complaints from startups and venture businesses and also asked financial institutions to increase investment and support for startups and venture businesses. Summary of FSC Chairmans Remarks Startups and venture businesses are essential for increasing our economys growth potential and creating jobs. Thus, it is important to establish an ecosystem where they can thrive. Meanwhile, to improve our economys competitiveness, more startups and small businesses with technological prowess and innovativeness need to be fostered even in times of investment drought. Therefore, the FSC and policy financial institutions will strengthen their support for innovative and promising venture businesses by providing more funding opportunities and acting as a priming pump to attract more private sector investments. For this, the innovative growth fund worth KRW15 trillionwill be created over the next five years to support SMEs and startups in new industries such as semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) and to supply venture businesses the funds in need to grow up into unicorn companies. Second, policy financial institutionsKorea Development Bank (KDB), Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT)will introduce a lending program worth KRW6.3 trillion, which will provide funds to startups and venture businesses based on loan examinations focused on their growth potential rather than their financial statements and the value of collaterals. In particular, the IBK will introduce a new lending program for venture businesses, modeled after those observed in Silicon Valley, which will offer loans with zero-interest rate bonds with warrants (BWs) attached. This program will enable early-stage venture businesses to continue
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Nov 21, 2022
- FSC Plans Regulatory Reforms in Insurance Sector to Promote Digital Transformation
- The FSC announced a plan to reform regulations on insurance businesses to help the insurance sector more effectively respond to emerging demands for new services and to facilitate the entry of specific business models expected by the market. The plan has been screened by the financial regulatory innovation committee at its 4th meeting held on November 14. Authorities will prepare revision bills to amend relevant laws with a goal of submitting and passing them at the current 21st term of National Assembly. Background The FSC has listened to opinions on the areas that require regulatory reforms through discussions within a taskforceon insurance sector (from February) and the survey of demands (June-July) conducted across all financial industry groups. Among 234 regulatory reform items raised by eight financial industry groups, the demand for regulatory reform in the insurance sector was particularly high (77 items). According to the taskforce and the survey, the insurance industry faces hindrance in effectively adapting to disruptive changes of business environment due to outdated and stringent regulations. First, even with a spread of digital economy based on network- and platform-based services, the level of digital transformation in the insurance market is still at a nascent stage, requiring an urgent industrial restructuring. Second, compared to insurance markets in other countries and other domestic financial markets, insurance businesses face excessive regulations for product development and asset management, which restrict insurance companies from supplying diverse types of financial products and weaken their global competitiveness.Third, there are cases where the rigor of penalizing practices and supervisory administration led to excessive restriction on the sales activities of insurance companies. For the consumer service of the supervisory authorities to deal with civil complaints, which cannot be served promptly due to the limited number of staff members an
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Oct 20, 2022
- Scope of Data Categories for Financial MyData Service to be Expanded
- The FSC announced a plan to expand available data on financial MyData service from the end of this year. The number of personal data categories will grow significantly from 492 to 720, which can cover most financial sectors including banks, insurers, card companies, financial investment firms and public financial institutions. A demand survey on MyData service providers in March 2022, which was conducted right after the launch of financial MyData service in last January, revealed additional data categories that need to be added. To insert these categories into MyData ecosystem, many data providers like financial industry groups, financial institutions and MyData service providers voluntarily organized MyData taskforce to discuss mutual development and cooperation. Between April and August this year, the taskforce held over 40 meetings and reached an expansion plan. MyData portal (www.mydatacenter.or.kr) will provide information on new service offerings and service improvement of MyData service providers, enabled by this expansion of data categories available. Achievement So Far (Penetration of MyData Service) Since the launch of financial MyData service on January 5 this year, financial MyData service has grown rapidly. The cumulative number of subscribers grew to about 54.8 million (in September 2022), increased about 3.9 times from about 14 million users in January. The volume of API (Application Programming Interface) transfers per day went up from 274 million at the end of January to about 384 million at the end of September. The number of MyData service providers also increased from 33 to 52 for now. (Enhanced Consumer Convenience) Financial MyData service made data ecosystem more consumer-oriented where financial consumers can quickly and conveniently access a variety of their personal data scattered around financial sphere with a single sign-on. As data sharing practice changes from indiscriminate data scraping to formal data transfer under consumer acknowled
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Sep 28, 2022
- 2022 Korea Fintech Week Opens
- The 4th annual global fintech expo, 2022 Korea Fintech Week will be held for three days from September 28 to 30 for both on-site (Lotte Hotel Seoul) and online viewing. Fintech businesses and experts from at home and abroad participate. Welcoming Remarks by FSC Chairman FSC Chairman Kim Joo-hyun delivered welcoming remarks at the opening ceremony. He spoke about the economic, financial and regulatory environment surrounding the fintech ecosystem and the governments policy direction to promote fintech. The following is a summary of Chairman Kims remarks. Koreas fintech industry expanded its size significantly in terms of the number of businesses in operation. However, recent global fintech rankings show Koreas ranking dropped from 18th in 2019 to 26th in 2020. And currently, fintech firms are facing challenges from expanding platform-based big tech companies and financial institutions which accelerate digitalization. Fintech firms also experience difficulties in attracting investments amid tightening monetary policies around the world. Besides, there are continuing concerns about inflexible regulations in the financial sector. In response to rapidly changing conditions surrounding the fintech industry, the government will act in a more agile manner to support fintech businesses in four aspects. First, the government will improve the financial regulatory sandbox program to promote commercialization of fintech services in order to make fintech startups to utilize this program more actively. Second, the government will examine and strengthen the financial support infrastructure to facilitate investment and funding on fintech firms. Third, the government will work to expand regulatory flexibility for artificial intelligence (AI)-based services and the rules on cloud computing use and network separation. Fourth, through a fundamental reexamination of current regulations, the government will actively pursue digital regulatory reforms throughout the whole financial industry
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Aug 26, 2022
- Financial Regulatory Reform Committee Discusses Ways to Promote Platform-based Financial Services
- The financial regulatory reform committee held its 2nd meetingon August 23 and decided on plans to (a) promote platform-based financial services from financial institutions and pilot online platform-based financial intermediary services to help enhance consumer convenience and facilitate digital innovation and to (b) make improvements to the operation of the financial regulatory sandbox program. The key measures include the following. a) Support balanced growth of platform-based financial services in financial industry - (Financial Institutions) Pursue regulatory reforms to enable consumers to use a variety of financial and non-financial services such as banking, insurance, card, securities, etc. through platforms (integrated apps) designed by financial institutions - (Fintechs) Pilot operation of services (through financial regulatory sandbox program) that can offer comparisons and recommendations on various financial products including loans, savings, insurance, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, etc. through a single platform - (Minimizing Negative Impact) Prepare safeguards against the negative effects of platform-based services by ensuring fairness in algorithms, preventing mis-selling, requiring sufficient provisions to be set aside for damage compensation, preventing anti-competitive behaviors of big tech platform companies. Out of 36 specific financial regulatory reform initiatives, #8: Promoting health care related services offered by insurance companies, #9: Improving rules to introduce digital universal banks, #10: Reviewing introduction of online platform-based financial intermediary services, and #11: Promoting card companies platform business b) Upgrade the financial regulatory sandbox program so that it can continue to play the role of facilitating financial innovation - Make early notification available to those that have been designated as innovative financial service providers about whether a regulatory change will be introduced or not prior to the termin
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Aug 17, 2022
