South Korea's Cabinet approved a bill to relax disclosure rules for banks looking to expand overseas, The Korea Herald reported May 21, citing the country's Financial Services Commission.
The bill will revise the Enforcement Decree of the Banking Act and exempt banks from reporting overseas expansion plans to authorities prior to setting up the branches. Banks will only be required to disclose such plans if the investment into the foreign unit exceeds 1% of its capital, according to the publication. The revision will take effect upon promulgation.
Prior to the revision, banks were required to submit a report if either their BIS capital adequacy ratio stood below 10% or if the foreign country's credit rating was below B+.
Further, the revision would give the licensing of foreign banks in South Korea to the governor of the Financial Supervisory Service.
