Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Reporter's Notebook Financial authorities indifferent to ASEAN financial center
President Moon Jae-in, right, and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issue a joint press statement at the BEXCO convention center in Busan in this Nov. 26 file photo. The co-chairs of the Korea-ASEAN Commemorative Summit agreed to establish the Korea-ASEAN Financial Cooperation Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. / Joint press corps
By Park Jae-hyuk
By Park Jae-hyuk
Korea's financial authorities have come under fire for taking indifferent attitude toward the Korea-ASEAN Financial Cooperation Center which will be established in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2020.
The establishment of the envisioned financial control tower was the Korea-ASEAN Commemorative Summit's only outcome regarding the financial sector.
Amid the absence of Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki and Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Eun Sung-soo, the leaders of Korea and the ASEAN member states agreed on Korea's plan to establish the center within the Mission of Republic of Korea to ASEAN in the Indonesian capital.
“We acknowledged the importance of enhancing cooperation in the area of finance,” they said in a joint statement.
The decision, however, has raised concerns among financial experts, because the Mission of Republic of Korea to ASEAN is under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Korea Institute of Finance's ASEAN finance research center director Suh Byung-ho said the center's role would be insignificant, unless “the financial cooperation functions of the FSC and the finance ministry can be channeled through the center.”
The financial authorities' recent remarks have proven that such concerns are not groundless.
When asked about the center's specific role for international fintech cooperation, Kwon Dae-young, director general of the FSC's financial innovation bureau, could not answer the question. However, it was mentioned in a press release issued before Wednesday's press conference on the government's strategies to scale up the nation's fintech industry.
An FSC official who answered the question on behalf of Kwon said: “The specific measures will come out after the foreign ministry reorganizes its offices.”
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) did not appear to have any extra insight.
Although an FSS official said the agency will dispatch a worker to the center, he was uncertain about the dispatched worker's specific role in the center.
In addition, the official said the FSS will continue to run its office in Hanoi, Vietnam, regardless of the opening of the new cooperation center in Jakarta.
The financial watchdog's Hanoi office was set up in 2013 to help Korean financial companies expand their presence in Southeast Asia.
Given that the ASEAN financial center is supposedly pursuing the same goal, the FSS is expected to focus more on achieving this aim through its Hanoi office, rather than providing significant support to the foreign ministry-run financial control tower.
Against this backdrop, financial experts fear the new center would be able to do nothing but settle complaints from Korean companies that have already settled in the Indonesian market without government support.