Financial authorities have decided to closely monitor the financial market situation and implement preemptive market stabilization measures if necessary. On the 15th, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) held a meeting to assess the domestic and international economic and financial markets this year and discuss future prospects and risk factors, chaired by FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won, with the Financial Supervisory Service, Korea Institute of Finance, Korea Development Institute (KDI), and macroeconomic and financial market experts.
Chairman Lee emphasized the importance of solid financial market stability while diagnosing the conditions of domestic and international financial markets. He noted that in the first half of the year, financial market instability expanded due to the Trump administration’s tariffs and domestic political uncertainties, but the economy and stock market showed a recovery trend in the second half due to the new government’s policy efforts and improvements in corporate performance, particularly in the semiconductor sector. However, he pointed out that vigilance over the domestic financial market has increased recently due to rising government bond yields and increased volatility in the foreign exchange market.
Chairman Lee stressed that the economy’s crisis response capability is sufficient, citing the soundness of financial institutions, the world’s 9th largest foreign exchange reserves, and low CDS premiums. He added that potential risk factors such as household debt, real estate PF, and the soundness of the secondary financial sector are also being managed stably. He also mentioned that the FSC would take bold and preemptive market stabilization measures if market volatility increases.
Participants shared their views on the economic and financial market outlook for next year, predicting a growth rate in the high 1% range, driven by strong exports and domestic demand recovery. They also expected the financial market to remain stable, considering the good performance of domestic companies, the government’s efforts to revitalize the capital market, and the soundness and loss absorption capacity of financial institutions. However, they identified various risk factors, including the possibility of differentiated monetary policies among major countries, concerns about global AI overheating, and fiscal soundness issues in major countries.