The head of South Korea’s financial regulator told FinTech executives Thursday (Jan. 20) that he plans to lessen regulations on financial institutions’ investment in the sector to increase support for the fast-growing industry, The Korea Herald reported.
Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Jeong Eun-bo made the pledge and vowed the agency will lobby for measures to make it happen.
“We will push for the enactment of the so-called fintech nurturing act intended to bolster financial companies’ investment in fintech firms,” he told the executives.
South Korean lawmakers are reviewing a proposal that reportedly would ease restrictions on how much and what kind of investment FinTech firms can receive from financial institutions (FIs). In addition, the measure would streamline approval procedures for these investments.
The government has said it will launch a 300 billion won ($252 million) fund in 2023 next year to support FinTech startups.
Jeong also told the newspaper that the FSS will introduce a separate fund designed to support startups.
South Korea’s action comes as regulators across the globe may be poised to implement more regulations on the sector.
See also: Regulation Meets Technology in 2022 as FinTech, BigTech and Crypto Prep for New Rules
The United States, Europe and the United Kingdom have announced reforms that would expand the open banking framework. Australia has also announced a legislative package to overhaul its payment system and regulators in most of the developed economies have raised concerns about buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment instruments.
While Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon are familiar with regulatory debates, 2022 may be the year where they see lawmakers around the world come up with the next legislation that could affect their core businesses.
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