KRX Joins Advanced Stock Markets

FTSE includes Korea Exchange on Sept. 22 in confirmation of the strength of Korean companies

The securities industry has been spurring its efforts to attract an increased number of investors from China and Japan as the Korea Exchange will be included in the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) on Sept. 22.
The Financial Services Commission jointly with the Korea Financial Investment Association held sessions in Tokyo and Shanghai to explain the investment opportunities in Korea’s securities market after the Korea Exchange is admitted into the FTSE.
At the Mandarin Hotel in Tokyo, they held a session to inform Japanese investors of changes in the KRX resulting from its admission in the FTSE, meaning that the KRX has come of age as an international stock exchange.
Vice Commissioner Lee Chang-yong of the Financial Services Commission and Chairman Hwang Geon-ho of the Korea Financial Investment Association with the support of CEOs of Korean securities firms and analysts cooperated together to invite Japanese investors to the KRX.
About 300 institutional investors and representatives from Japanese securities firms including President Seijiro Naito of Naito Securities Co. gathered at the hotel to hear what the Korean side had to say.
Japanese stock investors said that the reasons they have been shunning the Korean stock market are the lack of information, their conservative nature, the delay in the Korean stock market’s entry into the advanced stock markets of the world and shortages of Korean financial products, among others.
Chairman Ando Toshio of the Japanese Securities Dealers Association said information on the Korean stock exchange is scarce when compared to the popularity of Korean entertainment material. Japanese investment in Korean securities reached only 106.4 million yen or 0.5 percent of total Japanese investment in overseas stocks.
But Chairman Ando sees Japanese investments in Korean securities likely to increase gradually in the near future with the KRX to be included in the FTSE this month and the strong possibility of the stock exchange’s entry into the Morgan-Stanley Capital International Index.
Nomura Securities and Samsung Investment and Asset Management are likely to jointly create funds to be invested in the Korean stock market and stock markets in Asia for Japanese investors.
President Shigeki Oku of Eiwa Securities Co. said he came to the session to find out more about Korean financial products as part of the company’s plan to further diversify its investment portfolio.
Such large Korean companies as Samsung and LG electronics are well known in Japan and arouse Japanese interest in Korean securities and other related Korean financial products.
Chairman Hwang said they are planning to conduct similar events in the Middle East to expand investments in Korean financial products from a region loaded with oil dollars.
In the meantime, President Lee Jung-hwan of the Korea Exchange attended the World Capital Market Symposium held Aug. 10-11 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sponsored by the Malaysian Securities Commission.
The symposium discussed such key international issues as the current trends and prospects in world capital markets with leaders of global capital markets and economic organizations attending.
KRX President Lee participated in a panel discussion on the theme of “The Search for the New Alpha,” which took up such issues as new investment trends following the financial crisis, the role of the stock exchanges and business opportunities.
Among the participants were Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak, finance ministers from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, India and Jordan. Other prominent participants included economic advisor to U.S. President Barak Obama Professor Laura Tyson, Nobel Prize-winning professor Paul Krugman and Chairman Craig Donohue of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Following the symposium, KRX President Lee visited the Bourse Malaysia (BM) and discussed the exports of IT systems to Malaysia with BM CEO Yusli Mohammed Yusof. nw

Chairman Hwang Geon-ho of the Korea Financial Investment Association delivers a speech at the Korea Capital Market Conference to explain the Korea Exchange joining the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) to entice Chinese investors to the Korean stock market Sept. 10 at the Pudong Shangri-la, Shanghai, China.