Big Brother legislation
Central bank, financial regulator should take step back
The Bank of Korea (BOK) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) are locking horns with each other over the latter s plan to control the country s settlement payment system involving big-tech companies, such as Naver and Kakao. It was a misconception for the BOK called the revision to the Electronic Financial Transaction Act a Big Brother law, FSC Chairman Eun Sung-soo said last Friday. We are a little upset.
The FSC head was responding to a BOK statement issued a few days earlier, in which the central bank described the revision bill as a Big Brother law that could be used for consumer surveillance. It was rather unusual for the BOK, which usually uses ambiguous language, to express its opposition in such a strong tone. That shows the central bank is angry, too. The amendment seeks to introduce the electronic payment settlement business and calls for those wanting to engage in it to win t