South Korea’s export economy has produced big-name brands such as Hyundai and Samsung, but the country’s banking industry lags behind. The sector has been dominated by commercial banks – which are no longer able to support the financing needs of the conglomerates – and securities companies have been limited in their scope. That is set to change, however, as legal reforms to South Korea’s capital markets aim to unleash the potential of the local investment banks.
“Compared with the real sector, the financial sector is yet to develop,” says Dr Hyoung-Tae Kim, president of the Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI), and this is one of the drivers for the changes in South Korea’s policy and legal framework.
