Yim Jong-yong, the chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission, has pledged to lower barriers to entry into his country's banking market for foreign banks.

Yim Jong-yong, chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission, has vowed to liberalise the rules affecting foreign banks. 

Taking the recent occasion of a meeting with branches and representative offices of foreign banks, Yim promised to make regulatory requirements more 'flexible' for their branches. He was on a fact-finding mission to listen to their views about Korea’s financial regulatory environment and help them resolve problems.

Until recently, the regulator encouraged every foreign bank to open a representative office before it applies for a business licence to open a branch. Yim has now removed that restriction. Indonesia's BNI and China's Guangda Bank are among the latest banks to do so.

Currently, foreign banks are required to meet at least one of three requirements to start business in South Korea; these relate to credit ratings, asset levels and the number of foreign branches. In reviewing such requirements, the FSC hopes to attract more business. It is also soliciting opinions from foreign banks about how else it can introduce more 'fleibility.' Anyone with a query or suggestion can contact it at fsc_media@korea.kr