The Korean economy has achieved outstanding development not only in its real economy but also in the financial sector. Driven by the expansion in economic size and by the government’s policies to foster the capital markets and increase their openness, the Korean financial market has grown by more than 17 times over the past two decades since the 1990s. Financial market quality has also been greatly enhanced due to efforts to develop the financial infrastructure and improve the transaction techniques. As a result, global interest in the Korean financial market has increased significantly. In reflection of this upgraded international standing of the Korean financial market, the Bank of Korea now publishes this English edition of ?Financial Markets in Korea? for the first time. Initially published in 1999, this book has been revised every two to three years. This English edition is published along with the 2012 revision. Although its arrival is somewhat late, we hope that it will serve readers as a solid introduction to the overall Korean financial market. This book provides an overview of the Korean financial market structure, and of recent developments related to the individual markets. Chapter 1 introduces the structure and size of the financial market as a whole, while Chapters 2 through 4 describe the funding, capital and financial derivatives markets respectively, covering their trading terms and conditions, participants,transaction mechanisms and recent developments. Detailed explanations of recent major issues concerning the financial markets, including notable developments and institutional changes, are also available in the Boxes included throughout the text. It is hoped that this book will provide readers good guidance for a better understanding of Korea’s financial markets. Money markets Ⅰ. Overview Ⅱ. Call market Ⅲ. Repurchase agreement (RP) market Ⅳ. BOK repurchase agreement (RP) market Ⅴ. Certificate of deposit (CD) market Ⅵ. Commercial paper (CP) market Capital markets Ⅰ. Overview Ⅱ. Bond market Ⅲ. Monetary Stabilization Bond market Ⅳ. Asset-backed securities (ABS) market Ⅴ. Stock market Financial derivatives markets Ⅰ. Overview Ⅱ. Equity derivatives market Ⅲ. Interest rate derivatives market Ⅳ. Foreign exchange derivatives market Ⅴ. Credit derivatives market Ⅵ. Derivatives-linked securities market

Korea's financial development has been a tale of liberalization and opening but the new system has failed to steer the country away from financial crises. This study analyzes the changes in the financial system and finds that financial liberalization has contributed little to grow and stabilize the Korean economy.

Preface Chapter 1 Foundation of the Bank of Korea Chapter 2 The Bank of Korea Act Chapter 3 Organization and Functions of the Bank of Korea Chapter 4 Economic Development and the Bank of Korea Chapter 5 The Future Trajectory and Challenges of the Bank of Korea

In the past, foreign shocks arrived to national economies mainly through trade channels, and transmissions of such shocks took time to come into effect. However, after capital globalization, shocks spread to markets almost immediately. Despite the increasing macroeconomic dangers that the situation generated at emerging markets in the South, nobody at the North was ready to acknowledge the pro-cyclicality of the financial system and the inner weakness of “decontrolled” financial innovations because they were enjoying from the “great moderation.” Monetary policy was primarily centered on price stability objectives, without considering the mounting credit and asset price booms being generated by market liquidity and the problems generated by this glut. Mainstream economists, in turn, were not majorly attracted in integrating financial factors in their models. External pressures on emerging market economies (EMEs) were not eliminated after 2008, but even increased as international capital flows augmented in relevance thereafter. Initially economic authorities accurately responded to the challenge, but unconventional monetary policies in the US began to create important spillovers in EMEs. Furthermore, in contrast to a previous surge in liquidity, funds were now transmitted to EMEs throughout the bond market. The perspective of an increase in US interest rates by the FED is generating a reversal of expectations and a sudden flight to quality. Emerging countries’ currencies began to experience higher volatility levels, and depreciation movements against a newly strong US dollar are also increasingly observed. Consequently, there are increasing doubts that the “unexpected” favorable outcome observed in most EMEs at the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) would remain.

The Asian financial crisis of 1997–1998 was supposed to be the death knell for the developmental state. The International Monetary Fund supplied emergency funds for shattered economies but demanded that states liberalize financial markets and withdraw from direct involvement in the economy. Financial liberalization was meant to spell the end of strategic industry policy and the state-directed "policy lending" it involved. Yet, largely unremarked by analysts, South Korea has since seen a striking revival of financial activism. Policy lending by state-owned development banks has returned the state to the core of the financial system. Korean development banks now account for one quarter of all loans and take the lead in providing low-cost finance to local manufacturing firms in strategic industries.Elizabeth Thurbon argues that an ideational analysis can help explain this renewed financial activism. She demonstrates the presence of a "developmental mindset" on the part of political leaders and policy elites in Korea. This mindset involves shared ways of thinking about the purpose of finance and its relationship to the productive economy. The developmental mindset has a long history in Korea but is subject to the vicissitudes of political and economic circumstances. Thurbon traces the structural, institutional, political, and ideational factors that have strengthened and at times weakened the developmental consensus, culminating in the revival of financial activism in Korea. In doing so, Thurbon offers a novel defense of the developmental state idea and a new framework for investigating the emergence and evolution of developmental states. She also canvasses the implications of the Korean experience for wider debates concerning the future of financial activism in an era of financialization, energy insecurity, and climate change.

After years of strong performance, Korea’s economy entered a crisis in 1997, owing largely to structural problems in its financial and corporate sectors. These problems emerged in the second half of that year, when the capital inflows that had helped finance Korea’s growth were reversed, as foreign investors—reeling from losses in other Southeast Asian economies—decided to reduce their exposure to Korea. This paper focuses on the sources of the crisis that originated in the financial sector, the measures taken to deal with it, and the evolution of key banking and financial variables in its aftermath.

Examines the theory and practice of monetary policy in South Korea, and how certain policy tools can help manage financial crises.