South Korea willing to ease rules to sell Woori

FSC to allow local bank holding firms to buy only 50% stake in a holding firm with government stake to improve chances of privatising Woori.

South Korea's financial regulator said Monday that it is pushing for a regulatory revision to allow financial holding companies to buy a controlling stake in state-owned Woori Finance Holdings Co. as it restarted the process to privatize the country's second-largest financial group.

The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp., the deposit insurance agency holding the 56.97 percent interest in Woori Finance, is accepting letters of intent to buy the government stake by June 29 and plans to select the preferred bidder by September.

The sale comes after the government's efforts to privatize the stake fell short of drawing enough investor interest in November last year due mainly to high costs and tough requirements.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said a revision to the related decree would allow local bank holding firms to buy only a 50 percent stake in a bank holding firm with a government stake in order to consolidate the target company. Currently, a bank holding firm is required to purchase the entire stake.

The revised rule is likely to be effective for five years after coming into force, the FSC said.

The regulator plans to submit the revision at the FSC's regular decision-making meeting next month in order to make it effective during July or August, it noted.

View the full story in Yonhap News.