Vice Chairman of Financial Services Commission: "Regulatory Relaxation on Acquisition and Establishment of Overseas Subsidiaries by Financial Companies"

Announcement of Regulatory Improvement Measures for Overseas Expansion of Financial Companies in July

Kim So-young, Vice Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, stated on the 19th, "We will broadly ease regulations related to the acquisition and establishment of overseas subsidiaries by financial companies to support securing competitiveness through the expansion of business scope."

Vice Chairman Kim made these remarks while attending the 'Comprehensive Meeting on the Globalization of the Financial Industry' held at the Bankers' Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul, in the afternoon. She said, "I hope the financial industry actively considers various overseas expansion methods such as cooperation between financial companies and fintech firms, and joint ventures with financial infrastructure institutions."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The meeting was planned as a concluding event following the relay seminars and field meetings by financial sectors such as financial investment, fintech, insurance, specialized credit finance, and banking since the 'Financial Industry Globalization Task Force (TF)' launched in March. At this event, Vice Chairman Kim explained the regulatory improvement tasks related to the future overseas expansion of financial companies.

She continued, "We will ensure that overseas subsidiaries do not face difficulties in raising funds from their parent companies," adding, "We will also flexibly apply regulations that were introduced based on domestic application but are difficult to apply overseas."

Additionally, Vice Chairman Kim said, "We will consolidate overlapping or excessively burdensome reporting and disclosure regulations and shift to post-reporting." She also mentioned, "We are exploring effective support measures such as establishing cooperative networks linked with overseas diplomatic missions and international organizations to resolve various difficulties related to overseas operations, and expanding overseas opportunities through cooperation with related institutions."

At this meeting, associations from each financial sector shared their current status and plans for overseas expansion. The Korea Federation of Banks stated that as of last year, it operates over 200 overseas branches in 43 countries but has a very low level of internationalization compared to foreign banks. They plan to pursue business diversification such as IB and PB, and create synergy effects through linked and joint overseas expansion within financial groups. Additionally, the Life Insurance Association and the General Insurance Association revealed localization strategies such as diversifying sales channels and products, while the Credit Finance Association disclosed plans to expand from Southeast Asia to Central Asia and export payment infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Financial Services Commission plans to announce regulatory improvement measures for the overseas expansion of financial companies next month. The Commission stated, "We plan to announce regulatory improvement measures to support the overseas expansion of financial companies within July," and added, "We will review regulatory easing measures that financial companies can practically feel."

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