Last Year, 436 Innovative Financial Service Applications Received... 207 Designated

Surge After Application Method Reform... Cumulative Applications Exceed 2019-2023 Total

The Financial Services Commission announced on the 8th that it received 436 applications for innovative financial services last year, of which 207 were designated as innovative financial services.

According to the FSC, the number of applications per quarter was only 39 in the first quarter of last year (January to May, before the revision), but recorded 114 in the second quarter, 183 in the third quarter, and 100 in the fourth quarter. The sharp increase in applications from the second quarter is attributed to the effects of the revised application method.

Before the change, applicants typically submitted demand surveys to the financial authorities, received consultations from officials, and applied on an ad hoc basis. However, from the second quarter, the demand survey was discontinued, and applications were allowed freely during the regular quarterly application periods.

In particular, since the launch of the financial regulatory sandbox system in 2019, the total number of applications from 2019 to 2023 was 301 over five years, whereas the number of applications last year alone, after the revision of the application method, was 436, exceeding the total applications of the past five years.

Furthermore, among the 436 innovative financial service applications received over the past year, 207 have been designated so far. Considering that reviews are still ongoing for 181 applications submitted in the third and fourth quarters of last year, the number of designations from last year's applications is expected to increase further. An FSC official explained, "The number of designations from 2019 to 2023 is 293, and it is expected that the number of designations last year alone may exceed the total designations of the past five years."

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Meanwhile, among the applications last year, 100 applications were received during the fourth quarter application period (December 9 to December 31). The financial service sectors included in the applications were electronic finance/security (62 applications, 62%), capital markets (23 applications, 23%), banking (7 applications, 7%), loans (3 applications, 3%), data (2 applications, 2%), insurance (2 applications, 2%), and foreign exchange transactions (1 application, 1%). The types of applying companies were financial companies with 66 applications (66%), fintech companies 22 applications (22%), big tech companies 8 applications (8%), and others (credit information companies) 4 applications (4%).

The FSC will decide whether to designate innovative financial services through deliberation by the Innovative Finance Review Committee within the statutory review period (up to 120 days) for the applications received during this regular announcement period. The first quarter regular application for this year is planned to be announced in February and conducted in March.