Korean watchdog to promote Seoul as financial hub

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Korea’s financial regulator said Tuesday it will hold an investor relations session in Hong Kong this week in a bid to promote Seoul as a financial hub and attract foreign financial companies to the capital.

The 2012 Financial Hub Seoul Conference in Hong Kong, to be hosted jointly with the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday, will highlight South Korea’s efforts to become a leading financial center, the Financial Supervisory Service said.

Participants will also be briefed on measures taken by South Korean authorities to keep the country’s financial system stable amid deepening woes over economic slowdowns in advanced countries.

These measures will include enhancing the soundness of financial firms, increasing foreign currency liquidity, diversifying funding sources and maintaining close cooperation with international regulatory authorities and key market participants, the FSS said.

“The conference will raise the foreign financial firms’ confidence in South Korea’s financial markets by helping global financial firms better understand South Korea’s plans to establish a financial hub, and of related financial incentives,” it said.

The conference will bring together leading financial figures, including John McCormick, Asia-Pacific chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland Group; Wong David See Hong, deputy chief executive of Bank of China; Stephen Lackey, Asia-Pacific chairman of BNY Mellon; and Yoon Chi-won, Asia-Pacific chief executive of UBS AG.

Approximately 220 other senior executives and representatives from about 70 global financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, are expected to attend.

The conference will be divided into three sessions, which cover the progress and future tasks of South Korea’s financial hub policy and the merits provided by Seoul for foreign firms settling in the city.

The sessions will also include an interactive panel session, which will gather insights from the floor about how to assist Seoul to become Asia’s leading financial hub.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Seoul metropolitan government will sign agreements with four global financial institutions on their entry into Seoul and local government support for their opening offices in the capital.

The four firms are Threadneedle Investment and Hermes BPK Partners, both of Britain; China’s Bosera Asset Management International and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates.