The new chief of South Korea’s securities exchange operator Korea Exchange (KRX) vowed to speed up its efforts to transform the operator into a holding company and go public in a bid to strengthen its position amid the fast changing industry landscape worldwide.

To enable a smooth transition of the KRX to a holding company and its successful initial public offering (IPO), the country’s sole stock market operator will consider spinning off of not only the operation of the country’s securities markets - the main Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) market, secondary bourse Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (Kosdaq) and derivatives market, but also a clearing operation to launch them as separate independent entities, Jung Chan-woo who became the KRX’s new chief executive officer said during his inaugural address at KRX headquarters in Busan, southern Korea, on Wednesday.

“It is urgent to improve the corporate value (of the KRX) by boosting profitability” in order to turn it into a holding company and go public, Jung said, adding that operating each bourse and clearing operation as a stand-alone company should help bolster the KRX’s profitability. Since his predecessor Choi Kyung-soo took the helm of the KRX, the securities exchange operator has sought to become a holding company in a bid to strengthen its governance and ties with global peers, but has been unsuccessful in its efforts with a related bill failing to be passed at the National Assembly.

The new KRX head pledged to make 24-hour trading of Korean securities available for investors at home and abroad by enhancing its relationships with foreign securities exchange operators. He also promised to make efforts to extend trading hours and employ consolidated international brokerage account dubbed as an omnibus account to allow easy trading of Korean securities and derivatives products.

As part of efforts to foster the growth of fledgling companies with high growth potential, the exchange operator will continue to unearth new comers with innovative ideas and technologies and seek to reform the IPO process to allow easier access of those promising companies without enough funds to the stock market, Jung said. In particular, the operator will introduce new step-by-step process that could help start-up companies that successfully secure capital through crowdfunding make a smooth transition from Korea Startup Market and Korea New Exchange to the Kosdaq market.

By Park Yun-gu

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