South Korea’s financial regulator on Thursday held a joint working group meeting to discuss measures to nurture financial services based on artificial intelligence technologies, in preparation for new waves of digital transformation in the sector. 

Hosted by the Financial Services Commission, the meeting was attended by traditional local lenders, fintech firms and leading AI programming companies. 

Its main agenda was to seek ways to improve the current regulations that hamper financial companies’ ability to develop innovative AI-driven products and services at home and abroad that can be benchmarked. 

Following the meeting, the FSC is slated to come up with new guidelines on the application of AI technologies in the finance sector, to set up legal norms. Measures obligating service developers when using anonymous consumer data as well as protection guidelines for consumers from possible cyberattacks will also be unveiled. 

Meanwhile, by partnering with other financial institutions -- including Korea Credit Information Services and Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute -- the FSC will offer a variety of public financial datasets to domestic financial companies and fintech startups by setting up a big data pool dubbed “AI Data Library” to boost research and development of AI-based services.

The move to foster AI-based finance came in line with the government’s “Digital New Deal” policy drive, which is centered on creating more jobs in the tech sector and promoting digitalization of industries as a new growth engine for the post-coronavirus era. The joint working group will deliberate measures for the next four months.

“AI technologies will ramp up the innovation of various services, ranging from, credit assessment to private asset management,” the FSC said in a press release. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)