Foreign banks obligated to release financial info: watchdog

South Korea's financial watchdog said Sunday it will have foreign banks operating here to disclose their financial data, including balance sheets and income statements, starting in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said all financial firms will be ordered to make public their financial status on the Financial Statistics Information System (FISIS), a financial data website operated by the watchdog since 2004.

"We will continue our efforts to provide people with more data for more transparent and open financial surveillance in the country," the FSS said.

Currently, only South Korea-based banks, brokerage houses, insurers and savings banks were obligated to disclose such data. The companies will be ordered to reveal 505 pieces of data related to their financial health, expanding from the current 201.

The system will also provide users with graphs related to key data such as earnings and capital adequacy ratio, significantly improving readability.

Various figures that will give users a better idea of a firm's management, such as credit-card performances, default rates, return-on-equity and deposits by categories will also be opened to the public via the FISIS.

The latest rule will apply to all finance-related firms, including real-estate trust businesses and forestry, fishery and agricultural cooperatives. (Yonhap)