Financial sector faces hurdles in AI adoption despite eased network separation rule

Although financial authorities relaxed network-separation regulations last year for the first time in a decade, the changes have yet to ease operational difficulties for financial companies, industry insiders said Thursday. While the revision allows firms to use generative artificial intelligence (AI), each time an AI model’s name or version is updated, companies must obtain new approval from authorities, a process that can take several months. According to industry sources, a major financial firm secured regulatory sandbox approval earlier this year to launch a service based on OpenAI’s GPT-4 and has recently completed its system setup. However, with the debut of OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 earlier this month, the firm now faces the need to reapply for sandbox designation and repeat the approval process to implement the latest model. The situation has raised concerns that cumbersome regulations are hindering AI adoption in the financial sector, even as the Lee Jae Myung administration aims to position Korea among the world’s top three AI leaders. The network-separation regulation was intro