One Month Before Foreign Exchange Market Opening... 23 Foreign Financial Firms Participate

Market Closing Extended to 2 AM Starting in July

On the 24th, the KOSPI index opened at 2693.65, down 28.16 points (1.03%) from the previous trading day, as dealers were working in the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul. The won-dollar exchange rate started trading at 1369 won, up 6.6 won from the previous trading day. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

With the official implementation of the 'Foreign Exchange Market Structural Improvement' set to begin in a month after a pilot operation started earlier this year, more than 23 foreign financial institutions based overseas will directly trade in the domestic foreign exchange market starting this July.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Korea on the 29th, a total of 23 foreign financial institutions have completed registration as Registered Foreign Institutions (RFI) handling foreign exchange operations. Among them, more than 10 RFIs are already trading KRW-USD spot and foreign exchange swaps in the domestic foreign exchange market. RFIs are foreign financial companies based overseas that have been authorized by foreign exchange authorities to trade in the domestic foreign exchange market.

The government announced the foreign exchange market structural improvement plan in February, allowing global financial companies authorized by foreign exchange authorities to participate in the foreign exchange market. The plan also includes extending the foreign exchange market trading hours from the current 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM to 9:00 AM until 2:00 AM the next day. The government has been conducting a pilot operation since February ahead of the system's implementation in July.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Bank of Korea stated, "Since February, we have been checking whether related procedures such as trade execution, confirmation, and settlement are functioning properly through pilot trading during the extended hours." They added, "So far, through eight pilot trading sessions, 27 institutions including six RFIs have participated, conducting KRW-USD spot and foreign exchange swap trades using scenario-based or autonomous trading methods, successfully completing all procedures including trading, settlement, and accounting." Four more pilot trading sessions during the extended hours are planned for the remaining pilot operation period.