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Financial Services Commission (FSC)

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has embarked on expanding the horizons of its all-around "financial diplomacy" by visiting Vietnam and Australia back-to-back, which are key economic cooperation partners in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative is designed to follow up on bilateral summit agreements while actively backing the overseas expansion of Korean financial firms and corporations.

According to the Financial Services Commission on July 19, Park Min-woo, a standing member of the Securities and Futures Commission, visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Sydney, Australia, from July 13 to 16 to attend the "Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum" and the "Korea-Australia Financial Cooperation Forum," as well as to hold high-level meetings.

This move was arranged to implement follow-up measures in the financial sector from the Korea-Vietnam summit held in April, while simultaneously securing new growth engines through the first-ever joint financial forum with Australian financial authorities.

First, the "Korea-Vietnam Financial Cooperation Forum" held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, was attended by about 100 financial sector officials from both nations, including Nguyen Huu Huan, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City International Financial Center development task force, and Kwon Tae-han, deputy consul general at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City.

At this forum, practical financial cooperation plans were discussed in depth, alongside Vietnam's financial hub development strategy, including the integration of bilateral QR payment systems and the export of the Korean-style non-performing loan (NPL) resolution system.

Next, the "Korea-Australia Financial Cooperation Forum" held in Sydney, Australia, carried historical weight as it was the first forum hosted in Australia by the Council on International Financial Cooperation (COIFC), as well as the first event that Australian financial authorities have co-hosted with a foreign counterpart.

Standing Member Park presided over a meeting with Korean financial companies operating locally in Australia to listen to their on-site challenges, and subsequently visited the business sites of Samsung C&T, which is executing a renewable energy infrastructure project, and POSCO International, which is conducting a natural gas production project. The companies on-site suggested that long-term and stable financial support is essential for the success of large-scale overseas projects.

Standing Member Park emphasized, "As the stage for our companies' growth expands into the global market, it is a critical period for finance to preemptively secure economic growth engines through overseas expansion," adding, "We will actively expand productive finance as a cross-border policy agenda."

                                                                                                            Han Hye-sung