Rep. Kim Gwang-lim of the ruling Saenuri Party

The ruling Saenuri Party’s Financial Reform  Committee led by Chairman Rep. Kim Gwang-lim held a discussion session on Nov. 5 at the 2nd Small Conference Room on the 2nd Floor of the National Assembly Legislative Member Hall.

The subject of the session read, “Financial Reform, An Energetic Economy with Money Going Around.”

The committee has decided to take action to find key issues in financial reform, one of the four major areas of reform the government has been seeking, the public sector, labor, education and finance by inviting the financial experts to the session.

Speaker Chung Ui-hwa of the National Assembly made an opening speech, followed by speeches by Saenuri Party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung; Floor Leader Rep. Won Yoo-chul; Chairman Rep. Chung Woo-taik of the National Assembly Political Affairs Committee; and Chairman Yim Jong-yong of the Financial Service Commission.

The committee invited three heads of financial research institutions and five representatives of journalism, general citizens groups, and representatives of civic organizations and the government to participate in the debate on various issues related to reform in the financial industry in Korea, with Professor Kim Hwa-jin of Seoul National University presiding over the debate.

Director Suh In-suk of the Capital Market Research Institute proposed that the right to subscribe for the Individual Integrated Asset Management Account should be expanded along with tax favors for the account holders, so that they would be “the Bankbook for the People.” He also called for the regulatory reform of private equity funds to help venture and start-ups secure their capital funds easily. He also urged making the Korea Exchange a holding company to make the stock exchange more competitive.

Deputy Director Lee Byung-yoon of the Financial Institute said that it’s been 15 years since the establishment of a financial holding company was allowed, therefore he proposed that financial information be shared among affiliates, and the regulations for credit cards should be reformed so banks which operate credit cards are allowed to deal with the same financial products with the credit card companies. He also proposed that fingerprint information from the Ministry of the Interior be shared with the credit card operators to simplify the real name confirmation process.

Ahn Cheol-kyung, deputy director of the Insurance Research Institute, said a system to check the appropriateness of non-salary medical expenses is needed to lessen the medical expenses of the general public, and they should also introduce an online insurance payment request system when the insurance subscribers exceeded 30 million. He also proposed the legislation of a special law to deal harsher punishment for those who fake accidents to get insurance money, which amounted to 4.7 trillion won in 2013.

Professor Lee Sang-bin of the Hanyang University said a key to financial reform is the deregulation. He urged an expansion of the qualifications for those who join the ISA, allowing securities firms to deal in the foreign exchange business, and also allowing corporate firms that have accounts at securities firms be allowed to withdraw excess funds freely from their accounts just like individual account holders.

Professor Ahn Dong-hyun of Seoul National University said that spurring competition among financial firms should be a key to financial reform, which would lead to the formation of markets for Fintech, internet banks and Big Data. He also called for strengthening the rights of the consumers, improved credit rating practices, buttressing the rights to request for cutting loan interest rates and the protection of the rights for long-term subscribers in the financial products, which are among the issues to be continuously pushed.

Dignitaries, including Rep. Kim Gwang-lim, chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party’s Financial Reform Committee, and Chairman Yim Jong-yong of the Financial Service Commission attend a discussion session on Nov. 5 at the 2nd Small Conference Room on the 2nd Floor of the National Assembly Legislative Member Hall. (Photos:Rep.Kim Gwang-lim’s Office)