Starting next year, to shift the flow of funds into productive sectors, the Public Growth Fund will be launched, and the lower bound on risk weights for banks' mortgage loan exposures will be raised. The Financial Services Commission on the 30th announced "financial system changes starting in the new year in 2026" reflecting these measures.
First, to promote productive finance, the Public Growth Fund will begin providing 30 trillion won annually across the entire ecosystem related to advanced strategic industries. In addition, to ease the excessive concentration of funds into the real estate market, the lower bound on risk weights for banks' mortgage loans will be adjusted to 20% from the current 15%.
Also, to strengthen the management of large mortgage loans, the contribution fee rate to the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, which has been applied differentially by loan type, will be overhauled to a system that varies by loan amount. Through the target system to expand local financial supply, the share of policy finance for regions outside the capital area will be expanded in April to 41.7% from 40% this year.
The fairness and transparency of the capital market will also be enhanced. Starting next year, if a listed company holds treasury shares equal to 1% or more of its total outstanding shares, it must disclose at least twice a year the status of its treasury share holdings and plans for disposition. For serious industrial accidents, disclosure of the occurrence, including the damage situation, response measures and outlook, will also be mandated.
The threshold that required only KOSPI-listed companies with asset of 10 trillion won or more to file English disclosures will be expanded in May to KOSPI-listed companies with asset of 2 trillion won or more. Under K-IFRS, the presentation of corporations' income statements will change from "operating/non-operating income and expenses" to "operating/investing/financing income and expenses."
Measures to ease the financial burden on low-income households were also announced. As with banks and other financial firms, a reform of early repayment fees will be implemented for mutual finance institutions so that only actual costs incurred in executing loans are reflected. Four existing policy finance products for low-income households will be consolidated into two—Sunshine Loan General and Special Guarantee—and their distribution will be expanded to all financial sectors.
In addition, by overhauling the illegal private finance prevention loan, the effective interest rate will be eased from 15.9% to the 5–6% range, and the repayment method will be changed from a bullet repayment at maturity (one year) to equal principal and interest installments (two years). This will proceed by cutting the rate to 12.5% and refunding half of the paid interest upon full repayment, thereby lowering the effective rate to 6.3%, with a larger rate cut for socially disadvantaged groups.
A "death benefit securitization product" that partially securitizes whole life insurance death benefits for use as retirement funds will be launched by all life insurance companies. In the first quarter of next year, the current monthly sharing cycle for lists of deceased persons will be shortened to daily to prevent accidents and disputes arising from identity theft of deceased persons and to minimize harm to financial consumers.
To support overcoming low birthrates, when the policyholder or spouse takes maternity or childcare leave, the following will take effect starting in April to reduce premium burdens: ▲ children's insurance premium discounts ▲ premium payment deferrals ▲ deferrals of interest payments on policy loans.
In June, the Youth Future Savings product, a tax-exempt installment savings product in which government contributions are paid on the amounts saved by young people, will be launched. It is structured to allow a lump-sum receipt of 20 million won or more at maturity for wage earners with earned income of 60 million won or less (based on wage income) whose household median income is 200% or less, or for small business owners with annual sales of 300 million won or less.