S. Korea’s FSC outlines new finance policies for sustainable growth

The gov’t agency aims to announce comprehensive changes by year-end.

South Korea’s Vice Chairman Kim Soyoung of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) spoke at a seminar on "future megatrends and impending changes in the financial sector" last 8 July, hosted by the Korea Institute of Finance. 

Kim emphasised the need for proactive, sustainable growth measures. 

He outlined a policy framework focusing on mitigation, adaptation, and innovation to address these megatrends. 

“However, since financial policy can have a significant impact on the structural and macro-level changes, it is important that the authorities set their sight on a medium- to long-term horizon when formulating policy responses. In this regard, the authorities are working on policy frameworks for future finance, based on systematic analyses intended to minimize risks and seek opportunities for growth over a medium- to long-run,” a press release from the FSC said.

“The ‘mitigation’ policy is aimed at reducing the impact of impending change and shock, while slowing the pace of their occurrence. The ‘adaptation’ policy is geared toward minimizing potential damage caused by the change and developing a system that can facilitate an adjustment. The ‘innovation’ policy, which is deemed to be the most important of all, intends to lay foundation and establish regulatory frameworks to transform changing situations into new growth opportunities,” it added.

The seminar included discussions on developing financial services for an ageing population, funding climate change initiatives, and leveraging new technologies while managing associated risks. 

The FSC will continue these discussions and announce comprehensive measures by year-end.

“In this regard, measures to boost accountability in the application of AI technologies, ensure data security, and prevent accidents (“mitigation” policy) need to be implemented, alongside the measures to upgrade regulations on network separation and build a technological infrastructure to promote the use of big data analytics (“adaptation” policy),” it said.

“Especially when innovative technologies are being rapidly taken up by financial services around the world, the financial authorities will continue to promote the use of various types of new technologies to propel growth of the financial market and the industry. To make this happen, a concerted effort is required from both the private and public sectors.” the FSC said.