Lee Bok-hyun "Korea to Improve Financial Regulations to Be Recognized as an Attractive Investment Destination"

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is delivering a greeting at the 'FSS SPEAKS 2024' event held on the morning of the 28th at the Federation of Korean Industries building in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), met with foreign financial companies on the 28th and stated, "We will focus the direction of financial supervision on making Korea an attractive market for investment and ensuring that reasonable value is recognized."

At the 'FSS SPEAKS 2024' event held at the Korea Economic Association Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul, that morning, Governor Lee said, "We will continuously develop government support measures for corporate value-up to incentivize companies to manage in a shareholder-friendly manner, and create an environment conducive to investment through the establishment of efficient capital market infrastructure."

He added, "We will boldly improve excessive or unreasonable regulations so that financial companies operating domestically can fully demonstrate creativity and capabilities to lead innovation."

The event was attended by over 230 people, including executives and employees of foreign financial companies, related institution officials, and ambassadors from 10 countries including China, France, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Governor Lee emphasized, "These efforts are nothing but a house of cards if the financial industry is unstable or if consumers lack trust in finance," adding, "We will establish a stable financial system through soundness regulations aligned with international consistency and strictly punish illegal and unfair practices to establish a fair market order."

He also said, "Having conducted two overseas IR (Investor Relations) sessions last year, I felt the potential of Korean finance in the global market," and urged, "I ask foreign financial companies to play an active bridging role so that accumulated domestic capital can successfully expand overseas."

Jason Alford, World Bank Group Representative in Korea, said in his presentation on the '2024 Global Economic and Financial Market Outlook,' "Due to the global tightening monetary policy, growth is expected to slow for the third consecutive year through this year, but recovery is expected to slightly improve next year with the possibility of monetary policy easing," and added, "Bold structural reforms to promote investment are necessary."

Jung Dae-hee, Head of the Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Research Department at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), forecasted the domestic economy this year, saying, "Despite a slowdown in domestic demand growth, a moderate recovery led by exports is expected," and "The domestic inflation rate this year is expected to slow compared to last year, reflecting the slowdown in domestic demand growth."

At the event, the heads of departments responsible for each financial sector at the FSS explained the supervision and inspection directions for sectors such as banking, insurance, and financial investment, and responded to inquiries from foreign financial companies. The FSS plans to actively reflect the difficulties and suggestions discussed at the event in future supervision, inspection, and financial hub development tasks.