Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service Sign Multilateral MOU on 'Capital Market Supervision Cooperation' with IOSCO Asia-Pacific Region

Strengthening Cooperation on Supervision and Prosecution with 10 Countries Including Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and Singapore

On the 9th, officials were busy moving in the corridor of the Financial Services Commission at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, where the financial authorities decided to include mortgage loans (Judaemdae) in the 'debt refinancing' infrastructure scheduled to be launched in May by the end of the year. The financial authorities explained that they aim to reduce the interest burden on mortgage loans by establishing a debt refinancing platform that allows users to compare financial sector loan interest rates at a glance and switch loans easily. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

The Financial Services Commission (FSC), along with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee (APRC) under the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), has joined the multilateral memorandum of understanding (MMoU) on capital market supervisory cooperation.

Prior to this cooperation in the supervisory sector, the FSC and FSS had joined the IOSCO MMoU in 2010 to strengthen multilateral cooperation related to investigations of unfair trading, and later in 2019, they also joined the Enhanced MMoU (EMMoU), which expanded the scope of information exchange and enhanced the promptness of information requests, continuing cooperation in consultation and information exchange.

On the 8th of last month, the FSC and FSS submitted an application to the IOSCO Secretariat for joining this MMoU and received consent from supervisory authorities of APRC member countries by the 21st of the same month. Furthermore, after being discussed as an agenda item at the APRC General Meeting held in Hong Kong from February 26 to 28, the FSC and FSS officially signed the APRC MMoU on the 8th, finalizing their membership.

This MMoU stipulates multilateral cooperation related to the execution of capital market financial supervision tasks, aiming to strengthen supervisory cooperation and information exchange among supervisory authorities within the Asia-Pacific region concerning securities and derivatives markets. Accordingly, international cooperation with overseas supervisory authorities regarding capital market supervision and inspection is expected to be further strengthened for the FSC and FSS.

Financial Supervisory Service, Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

The APRC members consist of 22 capital market supervisory authorities, and among the MMoU members that the FSC and FSS have joined, supervisory authorities from 10 countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, and Singapore have already joined. Excluding South Korea, the supervisory authorities of 11 countries that have not yet joined may increase the scope of cooperation upon future MMoU agreements.

The FSC explained, "We plan to continue exchanging information and mutually cooperating with capital market supervisory authorities of various countries in overseas capital markets to enhance South Korea’s standing."

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