English service enhanced for electronic disclosures

The Financial Supervisory Service (Herald DB)

The Financial Supervisory Service announced Sunday an updated plan aimed at providing foreign investors with more English information on financial disclosures, as part of efforts to facilitate foreign investment in Korean companies.

The initiative to provide English services commenced in January 2023 following a decision by three of the nation’s financial organizations -- the Financial Services Commission, the FSS and the Korea Exchange.

As part of this initiative, the FSS began updating the English version of DART, the FSS’s electronic disclosure system, in April.

Currently, the English website notifies users when a company files a disclosure on DART. The extensible business reporting language (XBRL) viewer on the website provides information such as the company name, report title and names of attached files, in English. This year, the FSS plans to include English translations for the table of contents and format items within the disclosures.

The FSS also intends to improve search functionality on the website. While previously limited to searching by company names, the FSS aims to enable users to search by report names as well. The FSS will also introduce a quick search service with additional category tabs, consisting of annual reports, semi-annual reports and quarterly reports. A new 'Public Offering Bulletin Board' will also be available, categorizing subscription reports based on equity securities, debt securities and derivatives-linked securities, along with issuer name and subscription date.

In addition, the FSS plans to provide its Open DART platform, which is designed to enhance convenience for investors in analyzing and comparing data, in English. The English version of Open DART will feature translations for report names, table of contents and names of attached tables within the reports, as well as menus on the platform. The data available on Open DART will encompass a total of 83 disclosure items, including annual and semi-annual reports, as well as shareholding disclosures.

The FSS said it will also provide a video guideline to help foreign investors adapt to these new updated services.

Translations are available for all Kospi, Kosdaq, and Konex listed companies, as well as unlisted firms. However, translations for entire disclosures are still pending. The FSS added that it is considering adopting artificial intelligence for English translation.

By Hwang Joo-young(flylikekite@heraldcorp.com)