By Cynthia Kim and Heejin Kim
SEOUL, Dec 11 (Reuters) – South Korea plans to relax rules on the separation of banking and commerce in a bid to spur investment, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said on Thursday, even as civic groups raise concerns that the move could only benefit big family-run conglomerates.
“We won’t interfere with the idea that currently bans industrial powers from controlling banking. But instead, the idea is to ease financial regulations to allow large-scale investments,” Koo said, answering questions from President Lee Jae Myung during a televised policy meeting.
Under the revised rules, holding companies may be allowed to have some control over financial units to allow financing in leading-edge technology.
Koo also said the ministry planned to create a new sovereign wealth fund to better manage state revenue, but did not elaborate on the plan.
(Reporting by Heejin Kim, Cynthia KimEditing by Ed Davies)
