With the June 3 local elections over, attention in South Korea’s financial sector is shifting back to financial authorities and the National Assembly. Issues that lost traction during the campaign, including governance reform at financial holding firms, digital asset regulation, loan rules for non-resident single-homeowners and a compensation liability system for voice phishing, may return to the agenda in the second half. Regulators have also adjusted ELS sanctions and stepped up work on consumer protection and AI security threats.

South Korea\'s Financial Supervisory Service cut proposed penalties on five banks that sold equity-linked securities tied to the Hong Kong H-index to about 600 billion won. The decision was made at an extraordinary sanctions review meeting and will be finalized after a resolution by the Financial Services Commission. The revised amount is more than half below the 1.4 trillion won sanctions plan previously submitted to the FSC.