FSS chief visits Southeast Asia to promote 'K-Finance'

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun delivers an opening speech during the FSS' IR event held at the Grand Ball Room in Pan Pacific Singapore, Tuesday. Courtesy of FSS

FSS supports financial firms' foray into overseas markets

By Anna J. Park

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun has emphasized the Korean financial market's enhanced market access as well as consistency in regulations for global investors during his overseas investor relations event held in Singapore on Tuesday. Lee has been on a five-day overseas visit to three Southeast Asian countries ― Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia ― since Monday, along with representatives of many Korean financial firms.

In his opening address during Tuesday's event held in Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel, the head of the financial watchdog agency characterized the strengths of the Korean financial sector, which he branded as "K-Finance," as stability, soundness, innovation, growth and efforts to streamline market regulations for global investors.

"The government and financial authorities have been enhancing global investors' access to Korean financial markets and the protection for the investors. The financial authorities also plan to continuously strengthen the transparency and consistency of the regulatory framework of the country, while increasing the accessibility of Korea's foreign exchange markets to global investors," Lee said.

He went on to stress that the Korean government has started to take a series of measures to resolve the information asymmetry that global investors have experienced due to language barriers or regulations.

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun delivers an opening speech during the FSS' investor relations event held at the Grand Ballroom in Pan Pacific Singapore, Tuesday. Courtesy of FSS

"As Korea maintains world-class competitiveness in cutting-edge technological fields, including information and communication technology (ICT), artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, the financial sector of the country has so much potential to rise as a leader of digital finance. Actually, Korea's major financial companies are expanding the scopes of their digital platform businesses beyond borders, while increasing strategic cooperative relations with overseas digital banks," the FSS chief highlighted.

"Just as Korea's cultural content, such as K-pop and K-dramas, is drawing a wide range of attention and love from the world, K-finance, which has been developed based on the solid growth of Korea's real economy, is also expected to leap forward, anchoring on trust and innovation," Lee stressed, vowing full support for global investors.

Altogether, some 100 key officials from about 70 global financial firms and sovereign funds, including BlackRock BNP Paribas, Carlyle, Fidelity, Macquarie and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) attended Tuesday's event held in Singapore.

Aimed at further globalization of Korea's financial business, the event was also attended by heads of many financial firms, including KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Korea Investment & Securities CEO Jung Il-mun, Mirae Asset Securities CEO Choi Hyun-man, Samsung Fire CEO Hong Won-hak and Korean Re CEO Won Jong-kyu. Key officials from the National Pension Service (NPS) also attended the event.

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun, fourth from right, stands next to heads of major financial firms participating in the FSS' investor relations event in Singapore, Tuesday. From left, Korean Re CEO Won Jong-kyu, Korea Investment & Securities CEO Jung Il-mun, Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Singapore Choi Hoon, Lee, KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo, Mirae Asset Securities CEO Choi Hyun-man and Samsung Fire CEO Hong Won-hak. Courtesy of FSS

"KB Financial Group is planning to become Asia's representative financial group by a balanced growth of bank and non-bank subsidiaries of the group, while bolstering the group's non-interest profit. The group will also strengthen its digital platform and profits from overseas markets," KB Financial Group Chairman Yoon Jong-kyoo said during a Q&A session held at the event.

"It is the very first investor relations event in Singapore that is hosted jointly by the FSS and financial firms. Hana Financial Group will continue direct communications with global investors, aiming to attract investments based on the group's solid performance," Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo also said during the event.

On Monday, the first leg of the five-day tour, the FSS chief held a meeting with Bank of Thailand (BOT) Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput in Thailand. The two leaders discussed bilateral finance sector cooperation, vowing for a deeper bilateral partnership.

The FSS chief plans to hold a meeting with the vice chief of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday, to discuss information sharing and consultative cooperation to deepen their partnership.

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun, fourth from right, speaks during a Q&A session of the FSS' investor relations event held at the Grand Ballroom in Pan Pacific Singapore, Tuesday. Courtesy of FSS

After spending two days in Singapore, the FSS chief is slated to visit Indonesia during Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Lee will attend K-Finance Week in Indonesia 2023, hosted by seven Korean financial firms ― KB Financial Group, Hana Financial Group, Mirae Asset Securities, Korea Investment, Samsung Fire, Hanwha Life and KB Insurance. The FSS chief will also hold a bilateral meeting with the head of the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) for further collaborative relations among the financial authorities.

The FSS' move to strengthen cooperation with foreign countries is in line with the financial authority's annual key goals announced early this year.

"The FSS governor's participation in this overseas investor relations tour was requested by a few financial groups last year," an FSS official explained, adding that it is planning another such tour in the second half of this year to draw upon fresh interest in Korea's financial businesses and new growth engines in the financial sector.