Is further deregulation coming?
South Korea should complete its planned sale of 49 percent of state-run Korea Development Bank by 2012, the Financial Services Commission said in a report to President Lee Myung Bak.
The government, which said March 20 that the 20 trillion won ($20 billion) sale would begin in 2009, may also start easing regulations this year to eventually allow industrial groups to own bigger stakes of banks, according to the report, released in Seoul.
Selling state-run Korea Development Bank was one of the first measures financial authorities announced under Lee's push for deregulation and privatization. Lee, who took office in February, had made boosting growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy as his key campaign pledge.
The stake sale will be done “in phases” and their proceeds should be used to set up a fund to lend to small companies, as the bank itself had previously done, the report said. Korea Development Bank now mainly provides loans for large industrial projects.
The government will make plans for the remaining 51 percent stake by 2012, the commission said.
The first step in corporate ownership of banks may be to allow private equity and pension funds to invest in lenders, the commission said. South Korea will eventually raise the limit on stakes industrial groups can have in banks above the present 4 percent, it said, without providing a timeline.
Lee, who took office in February, is the nation's first president from a corporate background, having served as chief executive officer of South Korea's largest contractor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction.
To what extent will this deregulation boost the economy?
The government, which said March 20 that the 20 trillion won ($20 billion) sale would begin in 2009, may also start easing regulations this year to eventually allow industrial groups to own bigger stakes of banks, according to the report, released in Seoul.
Selling state-run Korea Development Bank was one of the first measures financial authorities announced under Lee's push for deregulation and privatization. Lee, who took office in February, had made boosting growth in Asia's fourth-largest economy as his key campaign pledge.
The stake sale will be done “in phases” and their proceeds should be used to set up a fund to lend to small companies, as the bank itself had previously done, the report said. Korea Development Bank now mainly provides loans for large industrial projects.
The government will make plans for the remaining 51 percent stake by 2012, the commission said.
The first step in corporate ownership of banks may be to allow private equity and pension funds to invest in lenders, the commission said. South Korea will eventually raise the limit on stakes industrial groups can have in banks above the present 4 percent, it said, without providing a timeline.
Lee, who took office in February, is the nation's first president from a corporate background, having served as chief executive officer of South Korea's largest contractor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction.
To what extent will this deregulation boost the economy?
posted by Charltonmedia.com @ 10:10 AM
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