The Financial Services Commission (FSC) is moving to designate Chief Inclusion Officers (CIFOs) within banks and financial institutions to address the issue of financial exclusion, which President Lee Jae-myung has described as a form of "predatory finance." The initiative aims to implement structural changes to remedy this problem. Additionally, to attract more foreign individual investors to the domestic stock market, the FSC plans to expand the scope of foreign integrated accounts to include exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and will hold a large-scale overseas investment briefing in September.
During a press briefing on May 21, Lee Ok-yeon, chairman of the FSC, stated, "We need fundamental improvements to address the structural issues that create financial exclusion." He announced plans to establish a strategy promotion team for inclusive finance in June, which will consist of four divisions: general, policy for the underprivileged, financial industry, and credit infrastructure.
The general division will focus on designating CIFOs within financial institutions to discuss ways to improve access to finance for low-income and vulnerable groups at the board and governance levels. The FSC is also considering measures such as providing immunity for employees actively engaged in inclusive finance, establishing a comprehensive evaluation system for inclusive finance, and linking evaluation results to financial institutions' incentives and compensation. Lee emphasized, "While we have focused on urgently rescuing marginalized groups pushed out of the formal financial system, it is now time to improve the very structures that lead to financial exclusion."
Improvements to the credit evaluation system will also be discussed. The FSC has noted that the current credit evaluation system, which primarily relies on past delinquency and financial transaction history, fails to adequately assess individuals with limited financial transaction histories or those who have consistently repaid their debts. As a result, the FSC plans to rationally adjust the criteria for utilizing delinquency information and explore the introduction of credit growth accounts and alternative information centers that leverage non-financial data.
Additional incentives to stimulate the stock market are also in the works. Specifically, to increase the influx of foreign individual investors into the domestic stock market, the FSC will expand the scope of foreign integrated accounts to include ETFs, which were previously limited to stocks. The large-scale overseas investment briefing, dubbed "Korea Premium Week," is set to take place throughout September. This event aims to systematically consolidate previously dispersed investment briefings into an international event representing the Korean capital market.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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