S. Korea to expand financial support for developing countries: regulator

South Korea will expand the activities of its international financial cooperation council to better assist the offshore expansion of local businesses but also help develop the financial sectors of other countries, the financial regulator said Monday. To this end, the Council on International Financial Cooperation (CIFC) will transform its short-term networking program into a long-term training program for visitors from other countries, while also introducing a new visiting scholar program. The new visiting scholar program will be launched this year with visiting scholars from Indonesia and expanded to include Vietnam in the near future, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The CIFC will also expand its annual global conference on international financial cooperation into semiannual events. "The FSC, together with the CIFC, has come up with ways to support overseas expansion of financial institutions, as well as its international cooperation programs, under a belief that exporting the coun try's financial infrastructure may assist the expansion of local financial firms in other countries and the establishment of their local networks in the future," it said in a press release. The CIFC was established in 2013 to help "facilitate systematic overseas expansions and financial cooperation," according to the organization that currently consists of 25 financial organizations, including private institutions, public firms and financial associations. Source: Yonhap News Agency