SEOUL, Dec 13 (Reuters) - South Korea's foreign exchange authority on Wednesday said it will ease some of the regulatory requirements for foreign banks newly participating in the onshore dollar-won currency market next year.
Asia's fourth-largest economy will open its U.S. dollar-won market to foreign financial institutions under a pilot program from January. It will also extend onshore trading hours until 2 a.m. from July, the finance ministry said.
Unlike local banks, offshore banks applying for the right to trade in the local currency market from 2024 will not need to report overall positions on non-deliverable forwards and forward exchange, the ministry said.
Currently, the won can only be directly traded with the dollar through local banks, for just six-and-a-half hours a day from 9 a.m. (0000 GMT) to 3:30 p.m.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Financial Services Commission said the government will no longer require foreigners to register with authorities in order to trade shares in locally listed companies from Thursday. (Reporting by Cynthia Kim, Yena Park Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
