Article 1(Purpose) #
The purpose of this Decree is to provide for matters mandated by the Act on Special Cases concerning Establishment and Operation of Internet-Only Banks and those necessary for the enforcement of said Act.
Article 2(Requirements for stock holding by non-financial investors) #
(1) “Information and communications business prescribed by Presidential Decree” under subparagraph 1 (f) of the Appendix and subparagraph 5 (c) of that Table of the Act on Special Cases concerning Establishment and Operation of Internet-Only Banks (hereinafter referred to as “Act”) means the information and communication in the Korean Standard Industrial Classification as publicly notified by the Commissioner of Statistics Korea pursuant to Article 22 (1) of the Statistics Act; provided, publishing of books, magazines and other publishing activities, broadcasting activities, postal activities, and news agency activities shall be excluded. <Amended on October 1, 2025>
(2) "Requirements prescribed by Presidential Decree" in Appendix 1 f and Appendix 5 c means any of the following: <Amended on Dec. 28, 2021>
1. The non-financial investor shall not be a business group subject to limitations on cross shareholding (hereafter referred to as "business group subject to limitations on cross shareholding" in this Article) under Article 31 (1) of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act;
2. Where the non-financial investor is a business group subject to limitations on cross shareholding, the total amount of assets of companies that engage in the information and communication business referred to in paragraph (1) in the business group subject to limitation on cross shareholding shall be at least 50/100 of the total amount of assets of non-financial companies in the business group subject to limitation on cross shareholding.
Article 3(Grounds for exceeding credit granting limit on same borrowers) #
(1) Credit granting by an internet-only bank falling under Article 7 (1) 1 of the Act may exceed 20/100 of its equity capital to the same borrowers (referring to the same borrowers in the main sentence of Article 35 (1) of the Banking Act; hereinafter the same shall apply) in any of the following cases:
1. Where any credit is additionally granted to a company for which the rehabilitation procedure under the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act is in progress, or one for which management normalization is jointly implemented by banks for corporate restructuring, etc.;
2. Where any credit is additionally granted to a person who has taken over a company under subparagraph 1, as stipulated by a take-over contract;
3. Where the Financial Services Commission recognizes that any credit is necessary for industrial development, such as facilitating projects for infrastructure, or stabilizing people’s livelihoods.
(2) Credit granting by an internet-only bank falling under Article 7 (1) 2 of the Act may exceed 20/100 of its equity capital when granting to the same borrowers in any of the following cases:
1. Where the value converted into Korean won increases following a fluctuation of exchange rates;
2. Where the equity capital of the relevant internet-only bank is reduced;
3. Where the constitution of same borrowers changes;
4. Where a merger or a transfer and/or acquisition of business occurs among the companies subjected to credit granting;
5. Where the Financial Services Commission recognizes that the credit granting limit is exceeded due to inevitable reasons, such as radical changes in economic conditions, without any grounds attributable to the internet-only bank.
Article 4(Grounds for extension of period exceeding credit granting limit on same borrowers) #
"Cases falling under extenuating circumstances prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the proviso to Article 7 (3) of the Act means any of the following:
1. Where it is impracticable to make a recovery by the due date because the maturity of credit granting provided has yet to arrive;
2. Where the ground specified in Article 3 (2) 1 or 2 continues to exist for a long period and the recovery of such credit granting is likely to significantly harm the business stability of the party to whom credit has been granted;
3. Other cases corresponding to those in subparagraphs 1 and 2 where the Financial Services Commission recognizes that the credit being in excess of the limit for a specified period does not significantly harm the asset quality of the relevant bank.
Article 5(Grounds for exceptions to prohibition against credit granting to large stockholders) #
(1) "Circumstances exist as prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the proviso to Article 8 (1) of the Act means any of the following:
1. Where a transaction that was not a credit granting to large stockholders (referring to large stockholders under Article 35-2 (1) of the Banking Act; hereafter the same shall apply in this Article) becomes the credit granting to large stockholders due to change, etc. in the scope of credit granting under Article 1-3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Banking Act;
2. Other cases that occurred due to grounds not attributable to an internet-only bank in the business process, as determined and publicly notified by the Financial Services Commission.
(2) "Cases falling under extenuating circumstances prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the proviso to Article 8 (4) of the Act means any of the following:
1. Where it is impracticable to make a recovery by the due date because the maturity of credit granting provided has yet to arrive;
2. Other cases corresponding to those in subparagraph 1, which the Financial Services Commission recognizes that the credit being granted for a specified period does not significantly harm the asset quality of the relevant bank.
Article 6(Grounds for exceptions to prohibition against acquisition of equity securities by large stockholders) #
(1) "Circumstances exist as prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the proviso to Article 9 (1) of the Act means any of the following:
1. Where equity securities (referring to equity securities under Article 4 (4) of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act; hereafter the same shall apply in this Article) issued by large stockholders (referring to large stockholders in the main sentence of Article 35-3 (1) of the Banking Act; hereafter the same shall apply in this Article) are acquired by payment in substitutes;
2. Where equity securities already owned become equity securities issued by a large stockholder due to corporate merger, business transfer or change in the constitution of the same borrowers, etc.;
3. Other cases that occurred in the business process due to grounds not attributable to an internet-only bank, as determined and publicly notified by the Financial Services Commission.
(2) "Cases falling under extenuating circumstances prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the proviso to Article 9 (2) of the Act means any of the following cases the Financial Services Commission recognizes inevitable:
1. Where the number of equity securities owned by an internet-only bank is too great to be disposed of within one year;
2. Where disposing of equity securities within one year is deemed to have adverse effects on the soundness of an internet-only bank due to radical changes in the securities market, etc.
Article 7(Protection and convenience enhancement of financial consumers) #
(1) "Means prescribed by Presidential Decree" in the former part of Article 16 of the Act means a method, such as face-to-face meeting or a direct conversation, by which an employee of a financial company defined in subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Act on Corporate Governance of Financial Companies conducts business with users of an internet-only bank.
(2) An internet-only bank may conduct its banking business by the method specified in paragraph (1) in any of the following cases:
1. Where it is essential for the protection of persons with disabilities defined in Article 2 (2) of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities or persons aged 65 years or older and the enhancement of their convenience;
2. Where transactions cannot be made by means of electronic financial transactions (referring to electronic financial transactions defined in subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act; hereinafter the same shall apply) due to any of the following:
(a) Where a user of the internet-only bank is designated as person subject to restriction of electronic financial transactions under Article 13-2 (1) of the Special Act on the Prevention of Loss Caused by Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud and Refund for Loss;
(b) Where technical grounds occur such as loss and breakdown of information and communications equipment for electronic financial transaction;
3. Where the relationship of rights and duties needs to be verified in ways other than electronic financial transactions due to inheritance, bequest, the exercise of security right, compulsory execution, etc.;
4. Other cases determined and publicly notified by the Financial Services Commission as those for which it is difficult to make transactions due to statutory or technical limitations or as those for which are unavoidable for the protection and convenience enhancement for users of the internet-only bank.
(3) Where an internet-only bank intends to conduct its banking business by the method specified in paragraph (1), it shall verify that a user has one of the grounds in the subparagraphs of paragraph (2) with any of the following means:
1. Signature (including digital signature defined in subparagragh 2 of Article 2 of the Digital Signature Act);
2. Affixation of name and seal;
3. Recording.
Article 8(Entrustment of authority) #
The Financial Services Commission shall entrust the authorities referred to in Appendix 1 in accordance with Article 19 of the Act.
Article 9(Criteria for imposition of administrative fines) #
The criteria for imposition of administrative fines under Article 23 (1) of the Act shall be as specified in Appendix 2.