The Financial Supervisory Service said on Tuesday that it will abolish the screening process on the account settlement of foreign financial firms as part of its efforts to ease financial regulations.

The financial watchdog revealed the plan during a breakfast meeting between FSS Gov. Zhin Woong-seob and 21 chiefs of foreign financial companies operating in Korea.

“Over the past year, the FSS has been implementing a series of financial reforms, such as relaxing regulations, protecting financial consumers, and improving conventional transaction customs,” said Zhin.

“Among such actions, there are also deregulations that are meaningful for foreign financial companies.”

To abolish the screening process of account settlement, the FSS will revise the detailed enforcement regulations of the banking supervision law in January, according to officials.

Currently, foreign financial companies have to submit a report on final accounts to the FSS within two months from settlement day, before they can transfer the profits to their global headquarters.

During the meeting, Gov. Zhin also presented a set of financial reforms led by the FSS, such as helping consumers find their dormant accounts, disclosing the identities of financial swindlers, and promoting financial education in schools.

Participating CEOs called for more autonomy in establishing internal control committees and processing data.

They also asked that the process for foreign investment be further simplified. Currently, foreign investors have to make transactions under the name of their local representative and report in advance the name of individual investors.

“We are discussing with the Financial Services Commission alternative solutions such as allowing the mass registration of investors under specific requisites,” the FSS governor said.

The list of participants included 11 banks, five securities firms, four insurance companies and one asset management firm.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)