South Korea's Financial Services Commission will launch "Youth Future Savings" to support young people in building assets.

The Financial Services Commission said on Wednesday it held a pre-launch review meeting chaired by Kim Dong-hwan (김동환), director general of the Financial Consumer Policy Bureau, with related institutions including the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency, the Korea Federation of Banks and prospective participating institutions. It shared detailed product information and reviewed launch preparations, it said.

Youth Future Savings is a 3-year, flexible savings product that lets subscribers deposit freely each month up to a limit of 500,000 won. The government will provide matched contributions based on the amount deposited, and interest will accrue on both deposits and the contributions. Interest income tax will be exempt. The interest rate will be fixed for 3 years, with the level to be determined later.

Eligible subscribers are young people aged 19 to 34 under the Framework Act on Youth. Military service periods will be excluded from the age calculation for up to 6 years, and those who turned 35 between the end of Youth Leap Account subscriptions in December 2025 and the launch of this product will be allowed to subscribe as an exception.

Income eligibility requires meeting both of the following: annual salary of 75 million won or less (63 million won in comprehensive income) or a small business owner with annual sales of 300 million won or less, and household income at or below 200 percent of the median. Government contributions will be applied on a sliding scale depending on income level.

The general type applies to those with annual salary of 60 million won or less (48 million won or less in comprehensive income) or small business owners with annual sales of 300 million won or less, and provides a contribution equal to 6 percent of monthly deposits.

The preferential type applies to employees at small and medium-sized enterprises with annual salary of 36 million won or less (26 million won or less in comprehensive income) or small business owners with annual sales of 100 million won or less, if they also meet a household income threshold of 150 percent of the median or less. It also includes newly employed workers at small and medium-sized enterprises who meet the general-type criteria, and the contribution is about 12 percent of deposits.

Those with annual salary above 60 million won and up to 75 million won will receive only the tax exemption on interest income, without any government contribution.

Subscriptions will be available from June 2026 through participating financial institutions' apps without an in-person visit, and new subscribers will be recruited twice a year thereafter. Screening will be conducted through inter-agency systems linkage without requiring separate document submission.

After subscription, there will be no ongoing screening on income and sales requirements. Preferential-type subscribers must meet the condition of working at a small and medium-sized enterprise for at least 29 months before maturity to keep the benefits. Job changes will be allowed up to twice during the subscription period.

Overlapping subscriptions with the Youth Leap Account will not be allowed, but switching will be possible only during the first subscription period in June 2026. In that case, government contributions and tax exemption benefits will be maintained even if the existing account is closed early under a special early-termination arrangement.

In the event of early termination, contributions and tax benefits will in principle be limited, but exceptions will be recognized in unavoidable cases such as death, overseas relocation, retirement, business closure or illness.

Kim said Youth Future Savings is a policy product that supports young people in building assets and achieving economic independence. He said participating institutions need to build stable systems and provide careful customer support.

The Financial Services Commission and related institutions plan to launch the product stably after building IT systems and finalising the interest rate.