The watchdog will monitor broker margin trading and stock financing, while stepping up 24-hour FX surveillance and checking financial firms’ funding, operations, and insurers’ solvency risks.
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service plans to intensify oversight of broker margin trading and stock financing to limit potential losses for retail investors as market volatility rises. FSS Governor Lee Chan-jin cited increased swings in Korean stocks, tensions in the Middle East and expectations of further U.S. rate hikes as key risks, and said the regulator will also maintain 24-hour foreign-exchange market monitoring and more closely examine financial firms’ funding and operations, as well as insurers’ solvency and duration mismatches. The measures broaden the watchdog’s response beyond securities-related leverage, reflecting concern that external shocks and rate uncertainty could ripple across South Korea’s financial system.