[Yes and No] To Accelerate the Data Economy Era...

Jung Yoo-shin, Dean of the Graduate School of Technology Management at Sogang University and Director of the Fintech Support Center

With the passage of the Data 3 Act through the National Assembly, data trading and other data businesses have become hot issues. In particular, there is great interest from the financial industry, fintech, telecommunications, and distribution sectors regarding the pilot operation of the 'Financial Data Exchange.' On January 16th, at the Financial Policy Briefing held at the Seoul Startup Hub, as many as 1,000 people gathered.

The Financial Data Exchange is, in short, a platform that facilitates the buying and selling of financial data. The data traded here includes various types that do not fall under legal restrictions such as identifiable personal information.

The market views the creation of an ecosystem that can activate data trading as the key to the success or failure of the exchange. Encouraged by these expectations, the government is preparing various ecosystem creation strategies. To ensure the safety of data trading, the Financial Security Institute, a specialized information security organization, has been tasked with building the system. Additionally, measures such as establishing distribution guidelines to promote data trading have been undertaken.

Furthermore, to create a data market ecosystem, it is important to build an open data platform that connects the financial sector with other industries. This requires not only active participation from non-financial companies but also cooperation with other government ministries that may influence the data trading process.

A data integration specialized institution system is also necessary to process corporate data. Whether financial or non-financial companies, all are reluctant to expose trade secrets. Therefore, rather than direct data trading, it is preferable to prevent trade secret exposure and enhance the added value of data through data integration and processing. The institution that performs this role is the data integration specialized institution. This institution provides converged data services across different industries and collaborates with big data centers operated in other public sectors.

Efforts to derive reasonable data prices acceptable to both demanders and suppliers must also be carried out simultaneously. For this, standardization and specification of data through distribution guidelines and the establishment of a data pricing system must precede. It would be desirable to reach price agreements through guidelines based on several pilot cases.

Providing policy incentives using government voucher projects can also help form the market. This is because it can activate data trading while assisting fintech startups and small and medium-sized venture companies in purchasing data.

The introduction of a market maker system is also worth considering. A market maker is a kind of anchor market participant who adjusts supply and demand to enable transactions when initial market trading is not properly formed. The primary dealer, introduced when forming the early-stage government bond secondary market in the securities industry, is a similar case. Market makers can be encouraged to participate in the market by granting incentives such as designation as data integration specialized institutions.

Training data specialists is also necessary. Ultimately, workforce development is key to creating added value through data integration, processing, standardization, and specification.

Photo by Getty Images Bank

If the data market ecosystem is activated through these efforts, tremendous synergy effects can be expected. Data distribution and integration, and the creation of added value in various industries through these processes, can be realized.

Currently, data trading in Korea is about 6 trillion won annually, which is only 3% of the United States. Considering that Korea's GDP is about 7% of the U.S., this is a relatively small scale. It is hoped that the activation of the soon-to-be-opened Financial Data Exchange will accelerate the advent of the data economy era.