Finance ministry briefs global investors on market reforms

The finance ministry said Wednesday it convened the second meeting of its Global Key Investor Council to brief global investors on recent foreign exchange and capital market reforms and to gather feedback on how those changes work in practice.

Moon Ji-sung, the ministry's international economic affairs official, chaired the video meeting on Tuesday. The session brought together major global asset managers including BlackRock, Amundi, Northern Trust and State Street, along with the Asian Securities Industry & Financial Market Association and the Global Foreign Exchange Division, a foreign exchange body under the Global Financial Markets Association. The Financial Services Commission, the Bank of Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service, the Korea Exchange and the Korea Securities Depository also attended.

The meeting followed the first session on Aug. 26 and focused on the progress of reforms to foreign exchange and capital market rules, with investors asked to describe their actual experiences investing in Korea and the difficulties they encounter.

One change already in effect is an extension of stock trading hours on the Korea Exchange. Since Sept. 14, the exchange's equity trading session has run until 8 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. Global investors also raised a range of views on shortening the settlement cycle for stock trades to T+1, and suggested that the shift be carried out after sufficient preparation and pilot operations.

On foreign borrowing, the government plans to ease restrictions for foreign securities firms in the fourth quarter of 2026. Under the plan, foreign securities firms' domestic branches would be allowed to borrow won and foreign currency from overseas, which is currently not permitted. For domestic corporations, the threshold above which won-denominated borrowing must be reported in advance to the finance ministry would rise from the current cumulative 50 million dollars or 1 billion won ($736,160) a year. Borrowing below that level is reported to a bank.

The ministry said it plans to keep running the investor council as a regular channel for dialogue with global investors.