Financial Supervisory Service: First XBRL Note Disclosure by Listed Financial Companies... "Enhanced Information Access for Foreign Investors"

This year, for the first time, listed companies in the financial sector have completed the submission of notes based on XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). With real-time access to English-language notes from financial companies now available, information accessibility for foreign investors is expected to improve significantly.

On August 24, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that 28 major listed financial companies with total individual assets of 10 trillion won or more have submitted XBRL notes along with their semiannual reports. XBRL is an international standard computer language for financial reporting, designed to make it easier to create, access, and analyze corporate financial information.

Among the financial sector companies that submitted this time, the financial holding companies were KB, Shinhan, Woori, and Hana. For banks, Industrial Bank of Korea and KakaoBank were included. The securities firms included 10 companies such as Mirae Asset, Korea Investment, and Samsung. In addition, there were four life insurance companies such as Samsung Life and Hanwha Life, seven non-life insurance companies such as Samsung Fire & Marine and Hyundai Marine & Fire, and specialized credit finance companies such as Samsung Card.

For non-financial listed companies, submission of financial statement notes in XBRL format was required starting from the 2023 business report. This year, the requirement was expanded to include listed companies with assets of 500 billion won or more but less than 2 trillion won. From next year, financial companies with assets of 2 trillion won or more will also be required to submit XBRL notes.

The Financial Supervisory Service expects that the disclosure of XBRL notes will help foreign investors make investment decisions more quickly, as they will be able to check not only non-financial but also financial sector English-language notes in real time.

In addition, the number of listed companies providing not only the main text of financial statements but also the notes in English is expected to increase, helping to resolve information asymmetry between domestic investors and companies and expanding domestic investment opportunities.

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to continue support activities in cooperation with relevant organizations to ensure that, as the number of listed companies required to submit XBRL notes increases, companies do not experience difficulties during implementation.