Korea

The FSC will impose new rules for securities firms on stress testing, liquidity management, leverage and mandatory FX hedging, among its measures to protect investors from risky products.

The FSC has meanwhile released new administrative guidance on private funds, aimed at strengthening supervision of the sector.

Mobile payment service providers will be allowed to offer deferred payment services, issue payment accounts to users, and enable larger transaction limits.

Optimus Asset Management CEO Kim Jae-hyun misappropriated investor funds to personally invest in stocks, futures and options since 2018.

K Bank’s recapitalisation plan was halted last April, forcing Korea’s first internet-only bank to stop offering loan products. It is now looking to regain ground lost to Kakao Bank.

FSC chairman Eun Sung-soo is eyeing regulatory reforms to ensure fair competition, data security, and consumer protection as bigtechs enter financial services.

Any misconduct detected during the probe will be referred to prosecutors and follow-up efforts will be made to protect investors. The probe is expected to continue until 2023.

The key changes will strengthen disclosure rules, prohibit unfair sales activities, restrict sales of high-risk investment products, and impose limits on loans and investments.

Korea Development Bank is operating an SPV to buy low-rated corporate debt. KAMCO is separately being deployed to buy up corporate assets at fair prices.

Pension contributions data will be converged with KCB credit data using homomorphic encryption, technology which allows data analysis to be performed on encrypted data stored at different institutions.