Short Selling, Ready to Hear Retail Investors... Battery Ajusshi Hosts Discussion Led by Financial Supervisory Service Chief

Hantuyeon and 'Battery Ajusshi' Participate with Domestic and International Securities Firms

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, is holding a press conference on the 4th at the Financial Supervisory Service in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), will meet directly with individual investors to hear their opinions regarding improvements to the short-selling system. This is interpreted as an effort to communicate directly with individual investors during the process of promoting short-selling system reforms.

According to the financial investment industry on the 26th, the FSS is preparing to hold a discussion on short-selling chaired by Governor Lee Bok-hyun on the 13th of next month. At this meeting, Jeong Eui-jeong, representative of the Korea Stock Investors Association, and Park Soon-hyuk, a writer known as the 'Battery Ajusshi,' will attend as representatives of individual investors. Two to three domestic and foreign securities firms, as well as academics and experts, will also freely express their opinions on short-selling without any specific topic restrictions.

Although there have been discussions on short-selling system improvements hosted by the Korea Financial Investment Association or the Korea Exchange, this is the first time the FSS is directly organizing such a forum. In particular, it is very unusual for the FSS Governor to meet individual investors directly and communicate on related issues.

Governor Lee is also expected to explain the progress regarding the establishment of the short-selling IT system. The 'Task Force (TF) for Building a No-Borrow Short-Selling IT System,' led by the FSS, is discussing ways to implement a system that blocks no-borrow short-selling in real time, alongside the development of internal IT systems for institutional investors engaged in short-selling transactions.

While individual investors argue that a real-time stock balance trading monitoring system is necessary to restore broken trust, related institutions maintain that it is realistically difficult to implement.

The FSS also plans to continue holding briefings for global institutions to ensure that investigations into illegal short-selling and system improvements do not inadvertently lead to a contraction of overseas investors.