South Korea to Ease FX Rules to Let Foreigners Trade the Won More Easily
Seoul moves to internationalise the won and widen foreign access to its currency market.
By Source Reporters Newsdesk
Sun, 19 July 2026 · 1 min read
South Korea plans to ease foreign-exchange rules to make it easier for foreign investors to trade the won, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, in a step aimed at deepening the country's capital markets and widening foreign access to its currency.
The move forms part of Seoul's longer-running push to internationalise the won and develop its onshore foreign-exchange market, which remains comparatively closed relative to other major economies. Foreign participation in won trading has historically been constrained by capital controls and regulatory hurdles that discourage global funds from holding and hedging Korean assets directly.
Greater foreign access to won trading could lower transaction costs for international investors and encourage more global capital into Korean stocks and bonds, supporting Seoul's ambition to see the currency more widely used in trade and investment and included in global reserve and benchmark indices.
The relaxation also arrives as regional financial centres compete to attract cross-border flows, and as Asian policymakers calibrate market openness against currency-stability concerns. Bloomberg's report did not immediately detail the precise scope of the relaxed rules or their effective date.
Source: Bloomberg, 19 Jul 2026 (via Google News).
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