S. Korea To Unveil Steps To Improve FX Market System At Noon On Feb 7

South Korea will announce steps to improve its FX market system at noon on February 7, according to a text message from the Bank of Korea doing the rounds on news wires. The central bank did not provide any further details about the planned measures.

• A couple of weeks ago, Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho told reporters that South Korea will announce measures to improve the local FX market in February, which might include a possible change to FX market trading hours.
• During the same media briefing earlier this month, Choo suggested that South Korea will seek to extend FX market trading hours to 2am from the current closing time of 3:30pm in 2H2024.
• Worth noting that historically MSCI had declined to update South Korea from EM status due to the absence of an offshore KRW market, much to the frustation of the South Korean government.