'Concerns Over Prolonged Political Instability' Lee Bok-hyun: "Consistent Financial Policy Implementation... Strengthening Communication with Overseas Investors"

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, announced that he will consistently pursue key policies necessary to stabilize investment sentiment, such as advancing the capital market and abolishing the capital gains tax on financial investment income, while strengthening communication with overseas investors and global investment banks (IBs) and actively explaining the commitment to capital market advancement. In particular, he urged all efforts to be made to restore trust to overcome the growing uncertainty caused by President Yoon Seok-yeol's recent emergency martial law situation.

Financial Supervisory Service Chairman Lee Bok-hyun is leaving the Bankers' Hall in Myeong-dong, Seoul, after attending the Macroeconomic and Financial Issues Meeting on the 9th, answering reporters' questions, and getting into a car. Photo by Heo Young-han

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On the 9th, Governor Lee held a financial situation review meeting in the morning and stated that the regulatory advancement, which the supervisory authorities have focused on so far, will be pursued consistently without any wavering. He said, "It is necessary to consistently implement major policies that are crucial for stabilizing investment sentiment, such as capital market advancement measures like general shareholder protection, which have formed a social consensus, and the abolition of the capital gains tax on financial investment income, which has no opposition from either the ruling or opposition parties, and the previously announced plan to complete these within the year." He added, "We will review the value-up achievements with the Financial Services Commission and Korea Exchange this year, present specific implementation plans for next year, and focus on strengthening communication with overseas investors and global IBs while actively explaining our unwavering commitment to capital market advancement."

He also added a request to devote all efforts to financial stability and trust restoration in response to political instability caused by President Yoon’s emergency martial law situation and the failure of the National Assembly’s impeachment motion.

Governor Lee emphasized, "To prevent the fund intermediation function from shrinking due to political instability, we must supply funds to companies without gaps and provide tailored financial support to vulnerable groups such as small business owners." He continued, "We must guide the financial sector to check the stability of information technology (IT) and emergency plans in response to cyber threats such as hacking and DDoS attacks, and maintain an immediate incident response system with related organizations."

He also reiterated that if financial market volatility expands, market stabilization measures will be implemented according to the already prepared emergency response plan. Governor Lee said, "We need to strengthen real-time monitoring of foreign currency fund trends and guide financial companies to secure sufficient foreign currency liquidity." He added, "We must also carefully examine and prepare for the impact on capital ratios due to exchange rate increases and the rise in risk-weighted assets."

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