[2021 National Audit] Financial Supervisory Service Chief "Promoting ESG Content Inclusion in Financial Statements"

Jeong Eun-bo, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, attended the National Assembly's inspection of the Financial Services Commission held by the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 21st, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Jung Eun-bo, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, announced that efforts are underway to formally include ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) related matters in accounting financial statements.

At the National Assembly audit on the 21st, Governor Jung responded to the criticism from Yoo Dong-soo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, that domestic financial companies' ESG investments are passive, stating, "ESG-related information is being included as notes in accounting financial statements so that investors can refer to them when making investments," and added, "We are considering revising regulations to incorporate ESG information directly into financial statements."

According to Representative Yoo, as of the first half of this year, the scale of direct ESG investments by domestic financial companies stands at 2.6 trillion KRW in stocks and 67.7 trillion KRW in bonds, which accounts for only 1.3% of the total asset size of 5588.7 trillion KRW across banks, insurance, and securities sectors. The size of ESG fund setups is about 2 trillion KRW, representing 0.3% of the total fund size of 753.8 trillion KRW.