BUSAN — The Busan Metropolitan Government is launching its first cooperation framework of the current mayoral term with tenants of the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC) and related financial agencies, aiming to turn the city into a global financial hub. With the completion of the third phase of the BIFC complex, the city plans to deepen cooperation among tenant institutions, attract new financial firms and create synergies across industries to broaden the base for growth as a financial center.
The city said it will hold a meeting of the Busan Financial Hub Development Council on the 13th in a seminar room on the 22nd floor of BIFC Tower II. Sixteen institutions are attending, including BIFC tenants such as the Korea Asset Management Corporation and the Korea Securities Depository, along with the Busan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Busan and Ulsan office of the Financial Supervisory Service. It is the first such meeting with BIFC tenant institutions since the current administration took office.
Participants will share key policies for the Busan financial hub and discuss ways to exchange work and cooperate across institutions. The focus is on linking the expertise and networks of individual financial institutions to meet the financing needs of local industries and to strengthen the competitiveness of the city as a financial center.
Since Busan was designated a financial hub in 2009, the city has built up financial infrastructure by attracting major state-run financial institutions, including the Korea Asset Management Corporation, the Korea Securities Depository and the Korea Housing Finance Corporation. After completing the first phase of the BIFC complex in 2014 and the second in 2018, the city finished the third building last December, expanding the base for clustering financial firms. It is now working to attract high-quality tenant companies.
"To open up the future of Busan as a maritime capital, the role of finance in supporting shipping, ports and logistics is important," the mayor said. "We will link the expertise and networks of financial institutions to strengthen the competitiveness of the Busan financial hub."