South Korea's state financial watchdog said Wednesday it will open a portal this week to offer "all necessary information" for financial transactions in the country.

The Financial Information Network, http://fine.fss.or.kr, will start operations at 9 a.m. Thursday after months of preparations, the Financial Supervisory Service said.

It's part of efforts to bridge the information divide under the broader goal of reforming the nation's financial sector, added the FSS.

"The FINE is a portal to provide all necessary information for finance consumers in the process of financial transactions," it said.

The FSS and some public and private financial groups have been already providing finance-related information on separate websites.

But the FINE features integrated services through links and easier access via major search engines, such as Naver and Daum, according to the FSS.

"We plan to develop the FINE as the world's top financial consumer information portal visited by more than 10 million users per year," it said. (Yonhap)