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Preparations under way for extended FX market operating hours: authorities

May 29, 2024

South Korea’s preparations to extend its currency market operating hours are going smoothly, with its pilot operations having shown no problems, foreign exchange authorities said Wednesday.

As part of its deregulation efforts, the country has been preparing to extend the operating hours of its currency market, which currently runs for 6 1/2 hours (9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) to 17 hours, closing at 2 a.m. the following day instead, starting in July.

The authorities, including the Bank of Korea, have conducted eight rounds of a test run of the extended operating hours so far, with 27 institutions, including six foreign players, participating in the trial period of spot and swap trading.

South Korea has been making efforts to lift regulations and invite more foreign participants to the local foreign exchange market in line with efforts to attract more investment from overseas.

So far, a total of 23 foreign financial institutions and registered foreign institutions (RFI) have registered for the extended currency operating hours scheme.