The public is to have easier access to financial information in the future, thanks to a partnership between the Financial Services Commission and the nation’s biggest portal Naver.

FSC chairman Shin Je-yoon and Naver CEO Kim Sang-hun on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to display important financial information about government policies on Naver’s Web browsing service, according to officials on Wednesday.

Users may thus find professional policy information, such as on the FSC’s recent announcement on deregulation, by searching related keywords in Naver’s encyclopedia or professional information section.

“We expect to promote financial consumers’ rights and boost data credibility by allowing the public to directly access the original texts,” said an FSC official.

Some of the financial regulator’s recent documents have already been uploaded as samples, the official added.

The data offered will range from general information on the government’s financial system and periodicals published by key financial institutes, to statements issued by the nation’s top financial officials.

Participating organizations include the Korea Asset Management Corp., Korea Exchange, Korea Housing-Finance Corp., Credit Counseling and Recovery Service and Korea Institute of Finance.

The FSC’s project is largely in line with the Government 3.0 campaign, the Park Geun-hye administration’s initiative to lower the barriers between government bodies and to promote the public’s right to access information.

Naver, too, has increasingly been seeking to diversify the range of its professional database and to differentiate itself from rising competitors.

Earlier this month, the portal company said that it would provide the daily stock price and corporate information of KONEX, a special stock market dedicated to small and medium-sized companies that are not yet qualified for leading indices such as KOSPI and KOSDAQ.

Up to now, only those registered in home trading systems could gain access to KONEX investment information.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)