Lee Bok-hyun Attends Joint Financial Sector 'Overseas Investment Briefing'... Introduces Efforts to Advance Capital Markets

Visit to Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Indonesia from 11th to 15th
Promotion of financial hubs, support for attracting overseas investment and expanding local business
High-level meetings with heads of financial supervisory authorities in three East Asian countries also held

Yonhap News

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), will visit Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Indonesia from the 11th to the 15th to discuss support for the internationalization of the financial industry and global financial supervisory issues with the heads of financial supervisory authorities in those countries.

According to the FSS on the 10th, Governor Lee will attend an overseas investor relations (IR) event jointly hosted by the FSS, local governments (Seoul and Busan), and the financial sector at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong on the 13th. He plans to explain efforts to advance the capital market, promote financial hubs, and support attracting overseas investment and expanding local business operations.

Governor Lee will first deliver an opening address outlining the efforts and goals of capital market advancement policies and express a strong commitment to policy implementation. The FSS will enhance policy understanding and predictability by analyzing the causes of undervaluation in the Korean stock market and detailing government-wide policy tasks undertaken to resolve these issues through a keynote presentation. Following this, the Korea Exchange will share progress and plans for its value-up program, including corporate support measures to eliminate the Korea discount. Seoul and Busan (Busan International Financial City Promotion Agency) will promote the financial hubs of Seoul and Busan to actively attract investor interest and entry into the Korean market.

In Session 2, Governor Lee and representatives from participating financial companies will engage in a panel discussion, responding to questions from overseas investors and exchanging opinions. Through on-site Q&A with foreign investors, they plan to communicate closely about capital market advancement policies and actively promote each participating financial company's corporate value-up progress and strategies for responding to changes in the financial environment.

Additionally, Governor Lee will hold high-level meetings with the heads of financial supervisory authorities from three East Asian countries. On the 11th, he will meet with Pham Quang Trung, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, to explain the soundness of domestic banks and credit information companies and the detailed domestic supervisory system. He will also share Korea's experiences and cases related to banking industry restructuring and non-performing loan management, which the Vietnamese authorities are currently pursuing.

On the 14th, he will meet Julia Leung, CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, to exchange views on supervisory issues aimed at enhancing capital market efficiency, transparency, and attractiveness, such as short-selling regulations and value-up initiatives, and discuss ways to expand inter-agency cooperation and information exchange.

In particular, Governor Lee will explain the progress of institutional improvements, including the establishment of an illegal short-selling prevention IT system actively pursued by Korean financial authorities to block factors hindering fair market price formation and enhance investor confidence. Through in-depth discussions on the purpose and background of Hong Kong's short-selling regulations, practical implications for Korea's short-selling regulations will be derived.

On the same day, Governor Lee will meet Eddie Yue, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), to share supervisory status related to sustainable finance as a regional supervisory cooperation partner amid changing financial environments such as strengthened global carbon regulations, as well as policies and efforts to create and develop financial hubs. In October, the HKMA announced the 'Sustainable Finance Action Agenda' to realize the vision of a regional sustainable finance hub, setting eight goals including carbon neutrality targets and enhanced bank climate disclosures.

Governor Lee plans to discuss supervisory issues for promoting sustainable finance, such as bank carbon neutrality and climate disclosures, application of the green taxonomy, and responses and support for financial demand for low-carbon transition. He will also exchange broad views on global financial and economic policy trends, including China's mainland economic stimulus policies, their impact on financial markets and industries, and supervisory response directions.

Finally, on the 15th, Governor Lee will meet Mahendra Siregar, Chairman of the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK), to share awareness of mutual market entry and supervisory issues of financial companies from both countries and to concretize plans to strengthen cooperation and information sharing as home and host country supervisory authorities.

He plans to explain that Korean supervisory authorities continuously strengthen regulatory improvements and local licensing support roles to enable financial companies to diversify revenue sources in countries with high growth potential, while encouraging financial companies themselves to enhance internal controls and risk management capabilities related to overseas expansion, and closely monitor soundness amid expansion. Furthermore, they will discuss ways to deepen the cooperative relationship established through the FSS-OJK mutual staff exchange training program into supervisory consultation and information-sharing channels.

Meanwhile, Governor Lee will hold meetings with Korean financial companies operating locally in Vietnam and Indonesia to hear on-site voices regarding local financial markets and supervisory and regulatory conditions in line with his visit schedules. At these meetings, he plans to exchange in-depth opinions on local financial market conditions and any regulatory or supervisory practices that hinder local business expansion, and review practical and multifaceted support and management measures.