Korea

FSS found thousands of irregularities in lending rate calculations including omission about income or collateral in credit evaluations, resulting in unfairly high lending rates.

New rules aim to control growth of the $24.7bn industry by requiring greater disclosures for secured lending, notarised mortgages valuations, among other measures.

South Korean branch of Goldman Sachs International said its naked shorts were the result of an institutional investor reversing a decision to lend it shares; the firm faces a fine up to $896,000.

Legislation introduced to bring cryptocurrency exchanges under the direct supervision of KoFIU, obligating them to adopt AML/CFT directives including systems to monitor for and report suspicious transactions.

Charges against current and former bank officials involve hiring misconduct, special favours; 87% of hiring irregularities occurred at either KB Kookmin Bank or KEB Hana Bank.

Korea Federation of Banks to introduce BankSign system next month; will significantly enhance and simplify user verification process for online and mobile banking through blockchain technology.

Korean cabinet approves amendments to its capital markets law to allow funds passporting between the five signatory countries; FSC to begin making preparations for scheme launch in 2019.

Cross listed ETFs track tech stocks traded in the two countries; following 2015 MoU that sought to expand cooperation between the TWSE and KRX.

New task force to improve consumer protection by holding firms more accountable for unlawful sales of financial products and services.

Korean FSS consulting to improve bank capital regime by tweaking risk weights on some loans and fine-tuning asset classification rules on restructured firms.