KSD "No 'Change' Has Been Made to the Optimus Stock Name"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Amid controversy over the responsibility of Korea Securities Depository (KSD) in the Optimus Asset Management fund redemption suspension incident, KSD has drawn a clear line regarding its role as an administrative management company. Unlike trustees who protect beneficiaries and manage trust assets, KSD operates as a 'general administrative management company' handling delegated tasks such as calculating the product's base price, and it has neither the obligation nor the authority to compare actual managed assets with the assets used for base price calculation. Furthermore, KSD denied reports claiming that it changed asset names at the request of Optimus Asset Management.

On the 8th, KSD explained through a press release, "Optimus requested that the asset item name be designated as 'Gonggong Gigan Maechul Chaegwon' (public institution accounts receivable) when submitting the investment plan. Upon verification, it was confirmed that the private bonds were effectively secured by public institution accounts receivable and had a layered structure, so we entered the information as requested by Optimus." They emphasized that they did not merely register the item name passively.

They also stressed that the item name entered at that time was simply the one initially designated by the asset management company for generating the item code, and that they did not change any existing item names. This was a denial of claims that KSD changed Optimus's asset item name from 'Samosachae' (private bonds) to 'Gonggong Gigan Maechul Chaegwon' and registered it in the fund statement.

Optimus told investors that it was investing in stable public institution accounts receivable, but in reality invested in poor-quality assets such as private bonds of loan companies, ultimately causing the fund redemption suspension incident. Some argue that KSD cannot be free from responsibility in this incident, pointing out that KSD should have properly verified the actual asset names and recorded the item names accordingly.

In response, KSD emphasized that it is not mandatory to receive bond subscription contracts when generating item codes, nor does it verify the contents even if it receives them.

KSD explained, "The calculation administrative agent generates item codes by inputting information provided by the asset management company, such as issue date, redemption date, interest rate recorded in the bond subscription contract, or even without the bond subscription contract." They also stressed, "The calculation administrative agent is merely an execution assistant that only handles base price calculation," and "It has no legal or contractual authority to request trustees to provide materials necessary for trust statements or balance reconciliation."