Lee Bok-hyun "Reforming System to Meet Overseas Investor Demand"

Published 13 Apr.2023 09:16(KST)

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service [Image source=Yonhap News]

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), announced on the 13th that he will create a financial environment that can trigger innovation, including the abolition of the foreign investment registration obligation.

In his keynote speech at the 'FSS SPEAKS 2023' held at the Federation of Korean Industries Conference Center in Seoul for foreign financial companies, Governor Lee said, "Although domestic and international conditions are difficult, such as growing concerns over real estate project financing (PF), we will implement supervisory policies to lead Korean finance into a new era of leap forward."

He continued, "While faithfully protecting financial consumers and making every effort to eradicate financial crimes that harm people's livelihoods, we will reform supervisory tasks, including the establishment of an innovation promotion organization," he emphasized.

Governor Lee stated, "We are currently reforming related systems to meet the demands of overseas financial institutions and investors, such as abolishing the foreign investment registration obligation and establishing a dedicated review system for foreign funds," adding, "We will support the sound growth of digital finance by preparing a regulatory framework for virtual assets."

He added, "Going forward, we will help foster innovation in our financial market by creating a financial ecosystem that complies with international standards and allows digital-based finance to grow soundly."

Furthermore, Governor Lee said, "We will enhance the loss absorption capacity of financial companies and respond actively and boldly to potential risk factors such as real estate PF," urging, "Foreign financial companies should also spread their home country’s best practices and systems domestically."

Meanwhile, the event was attended by more than 240 people, including diplomatic envoys in Korea such as Philip Goldberg, U.S. Ambassador to Korea; Colin Crooks, British Ambassador to Korea; Joanna Donnerbart, Dutch Ambassador to Korea; Catherine Raper, Australian Ambassador to Korea; Gandhi Sulistiyanto, Indonesian Ambassador to Korea; as well as Korean representatives and executives of foreign financial companies.