Seoul: The chief of the country's financial regulator announced on Wednesday that the agency is expediting initiatives to relax network separation regulations, allowing financial companies to better tackle the increasing security threats posed by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has stated its intention to reassess the current regulations, potentially permitting the use of AI for security functions by easing existing network separation rules for financial institutions. Presently, financial firms are mandated to keep their internal network systems isolated from external networks to prevent cyber threats, such as hacking. However, the emergence of sophisticated AI models like Mythos has introduced new security challenges, underscoring the necessity for financial companies to employ AI technologies for security enhancements.

FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon, during a meeting with leaders of major financial holding companies, including KB Financial Group, emphasized the urgency of these regulatory adjustments. "We are moving to ease rules on network separation to check the vulnerability posed by the use of security-purpose AI in relation to AI-related security threats," Lee stated. He further elaborated on the commission's ambitions, noting, "In particular, we will aim to fully ease network separation rules for financial companies with high-level AI security capability this year."