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By Anna J. Park

In a move to foster more nimble and flexible responses from financial companies in case of security accidents, the financial authorities have decided to allow the companies greater autonomy by revising relevant financial security regulations. Instead, the government plans to hold financial companies more responsible for failing to prevent such accidents.

The country's top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), announced a set of measures on financial security regulations earlier this week. The FSC explained the changed policy direction for regulating financial security problems is aimed at encouraging an effective response to heightened security threats and to support financial companies' digital innovation.

First off, the FSC plans to form a task force, comprised of IT security experts as well as officials from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Financial Security Institute (FSI). The task force team will examine the government's long-term stance in terms of financial security regulations. For example, the task force team will examine whether to raise insurance requirements imposed on financial companies whenever a financial accident takes place.

The FSC will also streamline and enhance the current regulatory framework so that the new system can embrace rapid changes in the IT environment faced by the financial sector.

The financial regulator also plans to strengthen the roles held by financial companies' chief information security officers (CISOs) as to allow more autonomous space for financial companies in setting up their own rules and regulations.

In pursuit of these goals, the financial authority is aiming to specify clear principles and goals, while repealing other miscellaneous rules that are no longer relevant in the current setting. Specific regulative details will be announced through the financial authorities' guidelines to raise the government's flexibility in addressing ever-evolving financial accidents.

"As the financial sector adopts state-of-the-art technologies, such as cloud, big data and AI, financial security is becoming more important than ever. The FSC aims to enhance financial security regulations to foster effective responses to new risks, while supporting financial companies' digital financial innovation," an FSC official said.