The South Korean government announced on the 19th a detailed institutional reform that will allow foreigners to freely trade the won among themselves. From January 2027, foreign investors will be able to trade the won without limits through overseas financial institutions pre-registered with the government, eliminating the need to open a won account in South Korea. Won transfers between foreigners will be exempt from prior reporting for most capital transactions, excluding domestic real estate deals, and settlements will be processed through a newly established 24-hour network operated by the Bank of Korea. In addition, the reporting threshold for won loans to foreigners will be more than doubled, and verification procedures at foreign exchange banks will be simplified. This series of reforms marks a major shift in exchange rate policy, which had prioritized capital controls since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and will ease foreign exchange trading regulations, which had been one of the reasons MSCI did not upgrade South Korea to a developed market.