Regulator set to announce winners of MyData business
In this Aug. 4 photo, Prince, a member of the hacking group Red Hacker Alliance who refused to give his real name, uses his computer at the group's office in Dongguan, in China's southern Guangdong Province. AFP-Yonhap
By Kim Yoo-chul
The country's top financial regulator is set to announce those that qualify for MyData business as the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) nears completion of its assessment of 38 candidates that requested approval to start the business.
Officials said Sunday FSS's “MyData Review Team” is in the qualification process for applicants, with the help of officials from the Financial Security Institute and Korea Credit Information Services.
“The FSS is under procedural due process on 38 candidates to specify their qualifications,” an official said. “The FSS plans to ask the candidates to present the specifics and other relevant details that need to be fine-tuned, with feedback to be shared by the two FSS umbrella organizations.”
The financial regulator plans to ask the winners from its review to submit official applications for preliminary approval this month, at the earliest.
“Final approval would come in January next year. However, the announcement timing is subject to change as the review process will get much faster given continued demand from the candidates to do so,” the official said.
The National Assembly has passed amendments to three major data privacy laws ― the Personal Information Protection Act, the Act on the Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and the Act on the Use and Protection of Credit Information.
The core goal of the amendments is to develop a “data-driven economy” by introducing the concept of “pseudonymised data” and a legal basis on which data would be utilized more flexibly under President Moon Jae-in's drive to ease regulations.
Specifically, the financial industry is focusing more on the “Credit Information Act” as it will provide clear momentum to expand MyData businesses. A personal data controller will be permitted to use and release personal data without obtaining the consent of the data subject.
Korea's major banks, insurance firms, credit card issuers and even technology companies want to enter the MyData business with early government approval.
“That's also because candidates which don't receive approval from the regulator should provide data to the winners. We can't afford to lose that opportunity,” an official at KT said by telephone, adding that its executives are busy studying how MyData will transform its business models and the whole logic of value creation.