Data Brokerage and Trading Alone Will Not Qualify for MyData Business Approval

Financial Services Commission Restricts Simple Data Brokerage and Trading Services

Financial Services Commission Chairman Ko Seung-beom is speaking at the 'Meeting for the Activation of Financial Platform Innovation' held on the 15th at Front1 in Mapo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Sim Nayoung] From this year, businesses that only mediate or trade data will not be able to obtain MyData approval from the Financial Services Commission (FSC). On the 13th, the FSC announced, "We will restrict simple data mediation and trading services to effectively enhance consumer benefits through MyData services."

The FSC stated, "Businesses that are likely to have data mediation and trading as their main operations or have concerns about information misuse will, in principle, be disallowed," adding, "If necessary, conditional approvals with restrictions on third-party provision of customer information or limitations on ancillary data sales operations will be applied."

The FSC plans to inspect consumer information protection systems and business plans after approval and take measures such as consulting and corrective orders if improvements are needed. They intend to verify whether the personal information protection and security systems submitted during the approval application are maintained and whether the business plans are faithfully implemented.

To secure social trust in MyData and strengthen consumer protection, the FSC will also enhance the external expert evaluation process. Until now, the External Evaluation Committee assessed business plan feasibility and physical requirements as 'adequate,' 'insufficient,' or 'disqualified,' granting preliminary approval on the condition of supplementation for insufficient cases at the time of final approval. Going forward, if the External Evaluation Committee rates a case as 'insufficient,' supplementation will be required during the preliminary approval stage, followed by a re-evaluation of the supplemented content by the committee.

While operating under an approval system, the FSC stated that it has minimized entry barriers by allowing 'minimum capital of 500 million KRW,' 'non-application of financial company investment requirements (over 50%),' and 'use of cloud computing facilities' to encourage the entry of creative players.

The FSC reported, "Since the first final approval on January 27 last year, 56 companies have been granted final approval, and 45 MyData services have been launched. However, there is still demand for additional approval applications from small fintech companies and financial institutions."

It added, "Since the proportion of new approval applications from fintech companies with relatively low financial expertise remains high, we plan to accept batch applications periodically to conduct more in-depth reviews and consulting. The first preliminary approval applications for this year will be accepted on the 22nd of this month, and thereafter, applications will be accepted at the end of each quarter."