Chairman Lee Eogwon: "Promoting Productive Finance for Sustainable Growth"

Financial Services Commission Reports Key Policies at National Assembly Audit
Emphasis on Addressing Real Estate-Centric Financial Concentration
Advancing the Capital Market

Yonhap News Agency

On October 20, Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eogwon announced, "We are working to shift toward 'productive finance' to support the sustainable growth of the economy."

During the parliamentary audit of the Financial Services Commission held that morning, Chairman Lee stated, "To address the concentration of finance in real estate and the Seoul metropolitan area and to restore a virtuous cycle in the economy, we are promoting a leading role for policy finance, rationalizing capital regulations for financial institutions, and advancing the capital market."

As part of these efforts, Chairman Lee revealed, "To respond to the global competition for supremacy, we will establish a 'National Growth Fund' totaling 150 trillion won, focusing on supplying large-scale investments to advanced strategic industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, robotics, and future vehicles."

He added, "For the capital market, where stock prices are at record highs, we will continue to promote the establishment of a fair and transparent market order, the spread of a management culture centered on shareholder value, and the expansion of the demand base for the stock market."

Chairman Lee also emphasized that every effort is being made to ensure thorough protection of financial consumers. 'Financial consumer protection' is one of the key financial policy directions of the new administration.

He stated, "For security incidents such as information leaks at credit card companies, we will strictly enforce the principle of severe punishment, strengthen the security system centered on the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and introduce punitive fines and other measures to prevent recurrence."

He went on to say that the commission will also improve the accountability structure and the performance-based compensation system (KPI) so that financial companies can actively protect consumers themselves, and enhance the effectiveness of post-incident remedies by introducing unilateral binding force for small-scale dispute cases and establishing a Fair Fund.

Chairman Lee also addressed the eradication of financial crimes that harm people's livelihoods. To proactively and systematically prevent increasingly sophisticated and diversified voice phishing, the commission plans to pursue five key initiatives: legislating financial sector accountability, building an integrated response AI platform, and preventing the misuse of virtual assets, among others.

He particularly stated that 'inclusive finance,' one of the core financial policies of the new administration, will continue to be expanded. The Financial Services Commission has established a 'New Leap Fund' for the debt restructuring of long-term (seven-year) delinquent loans. To ease the financial burden on small business owners, the 'Fresh Start Fund' will be improved, and the establishment of a 'Financial Stability Fund for Low-Income Households' has also been promised.

Finally, Chairman Lee emphasized that the commission is proactively responding to issues such as household debt management and the restructuring of the petrochemical industry to ensure firm financial market stability.

Regarding household debt, Chairman Lee said, "To address the growing trend of mortgage loans in the Seoul metropolitan area and elsewhere, we responded preemptively with the 'June 27 Measures,' which include the principle of restricting loans for non-essential demand. Subsequently, through follow-up measures such as the 'September 7 Measures' and the 'October 15 Measures,' we have strengthened management standards for additional loan demand."

He stated that the commission will closely monitor market conditions and promptly implement additional prepared measures as necessary.

On the ongoing restructuring of the petrochemical industry, he said, "Based on companies' own efforts, we will support advancement and high value-added initiatives, while also providing a total of 260 trillion won in financial support through collaboration between policy financial institutions and commercial banks to ease the burden on export companies resulting from U.S. tariff increases."

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