Deep Tide TechFlow message: On July 19, the South Korean Ministry of Finance said on Sunday that it plans to allow foreign financial institutions to borrow Korean won through a temporary overdraft arrangement, and to allow them to use won-denominated bonds as collateral in financial transactions. These measures are part of an incentive policy introduced to encourage the use of the Korean won, aiming to transform the won from a restricted domestic currency into a more globally oriented one. Since July 6, South Korea has extended trading hours in the USD/KRW market to a 24-hour trading system, signaling that South Korea’s long-closed currency is moving toward openness. (Jin10)