(image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s top financial regulator said Monday it will draw up measures by the end of this year to encourage the nation’s state pension fund to invest more in the KOSDAQ market.
Choi Jong-ku, chairman of the Financial Services Commission, made the remarks during a meeting with executives of financial firms and lawmakers.
Financial authorities have considered giving tax breaks and easing listing rules to boost the KOSDAQ in a bid to help promising new companies raise funds on the market.
Choi said the KOSDAQ market accounts for only 2 percent of the National Pension Service’s local stock portfolio.
Institutional investors have shunned the market because of low appetite for the listed stocks and the opaque accounting of some firms, Choi said.
“Reflecting these views, we will map out measures to improve the KOSDAQ market by the end of this year,” Choi said.
The KOSDAQ has been planning to introduce a new index comprising some members of both the benchmark KOSPI and the KOSDAQ markets to attract institutional investors.
It has also been struggling with a string of accounting scandals and a defection of large-cap stocks to the KOSPI market.
(Yonhap)
