[Smart Finance Awards] Government Actively Supports Through Regulatory Sandbox

Congratulatory Address by Lee Seong-ho, Standing Commissioner of the Financial Services Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] The rapid advancement of cutting-edge IT and mobile technologies, combined with the spread of non-face-to-face (untact) interactions due to COVID-19, is bringing about significant changes and innovations across all aspects of daily life, including financial transactions.

In April, nearly half (47.6%) of all transactions in the Korea Stock Exchange were conducted through Mobile Trading Systems (MTS). This has created an environment where investors can access the stock market more easily and conveniently without restrictions of time and place. More than two-thirds of the domestic economically active population have subscribed to Open Banking, which was launched at the end of last year to innovate financial payment infrastructure. As of the 20th of last month, the cumulative number of API uses reached 1.57 billion, and the number of registered accounts was 51.5 million, indicating that the market has been established faster than expected.

Changes are also occurring in the financial industry and among financial consumers. Banks have shifted to Banking as a Platform, offering high-quality services such as preferential interest rate savings and deposits, currency exchange and easy payment top-ups, and integrated asset management. Consumers can now conveniently conduct transactions with all banks through a single app.

Accordingly, the government plans to actively support the high-growth-potential fields of mobile trading and open banking. At the end of this month, it will announce the "Open Banking Advancement Plan," which includes expanding participating institutions and establishing legal grounds to facilitate the spread of innovation through open banking. It also plans to increase consumer accessibility to fintech companies with innovative ideas through regulatory sandboxes. Furthermore, it will establish financial authentication and identity verification systems suitable for the digital finance era, including the abolition of the public certification system and the expansion of non-face-to-face real-name verification.

However, as transactions become more convenient, caution must be taken to prevent side effects such as personal information leaks and consumer damages like incomplete sales. Since the Financial Services Commission announced the legislative notice of the Consumer Protection Act Enforcement Decree starting March next year, it will steadily prepare subordinate regulations to provide stronger protection for financial consumers.

Even as finance expands externally thanks to digital and IT technologies, its essence remains trust. Trust is everything in the financial industry. It is hoped that the financial business will take a further leap forward through the establishment of a safe and reliable financial transaction system that is easy, convenient, and considerate of customers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.