Korea Institute of Finance

Financial Research Brief

26-20 Nov 7, 2026

Korea's Inflation Conditions and Policy Implications

The recent rise in consumer price inflation in Korea appears to have been driven primarily by supply-side factors, including higher raw material costs due to won depreciation and rising crude oil prices, as well as increased distribution costs. This contrasts with the US, where demand-side pressures stemming from a strong labor market, wage growth, and robust demand for services have played a greater role. These differences have also contributed to the divergence in monetary policy between the t...

Financial Review Min Chang

Changing Deposit Structure of Banks and Implications for Liquidity Management

Policy Issue in Focus Yeonju Baik

Stronger Information Sharing to Combat Financial Fraud and Challenges Ahead

Policy Issue in Focus Jeong Doo Lee

International Regulatory Approaches to Finfluencers and Implications for Korea

Policy Issue in Focus Nayul Kim

Real Estate PF Conditions Review and Financial Support Measures to Promote Housing Supply

News Briefs KIF

Firm Information and SME Financing: The Effects of Changes in External Audit and Disclosure Requirements

This report examines how mandatory external audit and disclosure affect relationship banking to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In Korea, audit reports are filed with the Securities and Futures Commission and made publicly available. As a result, information produced through a relationship bank's monitoring becomes accessible to competing banks, which can offer refinancing at lower rates without bearing monitoring costs. Anticipating this, relationship banks reduce monitored long-term...

20261104 Seok Ki Kim

Redesigning the Overseas Expansion Strategy of Korean Financial Institutions

This report proposes a redesign of the overseas expansion strategy of Korean financial institutions as a way out of the weakening earnings base of the domestic financial industry, which stems from low fertility, population aging, and slow growth. Their overseas expansion is found to be concentrated in Asia, notably China and Southeast Asia; to consist largely of accompanying Korean corporate clients abroad and serving them as its principal customer base; to rely on greenfield entry through newly...

20260930 Haesik Park ·Seok Ki Kim ·Byungyoon Lee

Strategic Directions and Implications of Global Banking Groups Before and After the Pandemic: Focusing on RWA

The RWA growth rate of domestic banking groups averaged 2.25% during the pandemic and 7.13% during the non-pandemic period. On the other hand, for global banking groups, the average RWA growth rate during the pandemic was 5.9%, rather higher than the average growth rate of 5.5% during the non-pandemic period. In Korea, expansionary equilibrium is typically achieved in normal times, and due to a lack of growth resources and tightened capital regulations, it is difficult to take the risk of signif...

20260917 Kim Woojin, Lee Tai-Ki

Strengthening the Competitiveness of Japan's Regional Banks: Institutional Reforms and Implications

Korea's regional banks face weakening business foundations due to low birth rates, population decline, Seoul-area concentration, and declining local industries. Japan, facing similar problems earlier, expanded banks' ancillary businesses and subsidiaries into regional development and sustainability fields through its 2021 Banking Act amendment, giving rise to models such as regional trading companies, renewable energy, talent placement, and digital transformation. Japan also enacted a special an...

20260824 Byungyoon Lee, Seok Ki Kim, Haesik Park

An Analysis of the Bank?Firm Lending Bipartite Network in Korea

This study constructs bank?firm lending relationships in Korea as a bipartite network and analyzes the indirect interconnections among banks formed through common borrowers. While previous studies on financial networks in Korea have mainly focused on one-mode networks, this study identifies interbank interconnectedness arising from corporate lending relationships. The results show that multiple lending relationships, in which more than one bank provides loans to the same firm, are widespread in...

20260807 Jean Lim

The Role of Shared Growth and Inclusive Finance

Can inclusive finance generate a virtuous cycle of shared growth by simultaneously improving economic growth and income distribution? According to the World Bank (2020) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2019, 2023), constraints on financial access exist in both developing and advanced economies, posing a threat to economic growth. In advanced economies in particular, while average financial accessibility has improved, polarization in financial access has intensified...

20260529 Jabonn Kim