Gov't to ease bank levies for won-yuan 'market creators'

South Korea plans to provide incentives by cutting or reducing bank levies on 12 banks that have been named as "market creators" of the won-yuan exchange market in a bid to vitalize the recently launched market.
  

Under the plan, Seoul will eliminate the bank tax on yuan debts and partially reduce other levies depending on the lenders' won-yuan trading volume, the finance ministry and the central bank said in a joint press release.
  

The move, which is tentatively valid for this year, is a follow-up to its earlier plan to consider "diverse incentives" for the lenders that were chosen to help nurture the nascent market.
  

The market creator group includes seven local lenders, such as Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank, as well as the local branches of foreign lenders, such as the Bank of Communications, Deutsche Bank.
  

"The move will help ease costs for market creators and invigorate the won-yuan direct trading market," they said in the press release.
  

On Dec. 1, Seoul launched the currency market in a follow-up to an agreement reached during a summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart, Xi Jin-ping.
  

Daily trading volume has averaged $950 million since the Dec. 1 launch. (Yonhap)