S. Korea to ease rules to promote foreign participation in FX market

South Korea will loosen requirements of registration for foreign financial institutions and their reporting rules in an effort to improve trading conditions and attract more investors, the finance ministry said Wednesday. It is part of follow-up steps after the country implemented a set of deregulation measures in July, including allowing registered foreign institutions, or RFIs, to be able to take part in the interbank forex market. The country also extended the operating hours of the won-U.S. dollar exchange market to 9 a.m.-2 a.m. the following day, versus the 3:30 p.m. close from July. Under the new measures, the authorities plan to ease the requirements for registration for foreign financial entities by allowing them to use credit lines from domestic companies or other foreign firms when they register for trading. Currently, they are required to set up credit lines with at least 10 domestic firms, and it takes years for them to enter the market. The authorities also decided not to require foreign f irms to report daily borrowings, trades and other details. In a move to boost liquidity during nighttime trading, the country also vowed to give more incentives for local firms' trading after 11 p.m. "Trading during extended hours had been stable in July. But it is needed to boost the participation and trading by RFIs and to secure enough liquidity during nighttime trading," the ministry said after holding a meeting with relevant institutions on the issue. The total spot trading volume rose 10.7 percent on-year to US$11.73 billion on average last month, government data showed. Source: Yonhap News Agency