Kim Beom-seok, First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance (second from left), visited Hong Kong from the 15th to the 17th to meet with overseas investors and promote the Korean government bond market. The photo shows him speaking at an investor roundtable. Photo by Ministry of Strategy and Finance
The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on the 18th that Vice Minister Kim Beom-seok visited Hong Kong to introduce the Korean economic situation and the advantages of the government bond market to major investors.
Vice Minister Kim visited Hong Kong from the 15th to the 17th and held briefing sessions for major investment institutions. He emphasized to Hong Kong investors the strengths of the Korean government bond market, including Korea's sound fiscal health, high level of treasury bond liquidity, and stable inflation trends. He also mentioned that many institutional improvements have been made to enhance foreign investors' access to the government bond market and that a new investment infrastructure has been established.
In particular, Vice Minister Kim provided detailed explanations about the significant increase in convenience for foreign government bond investors, including the tax exemption system, the abolition of the Foreign Investor Registration Certificate (IRC), the opening of integrated government bond accounts, and structural improvements in the foreign exchange market.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the attendees of the investment briefing positively evaluated the Korean government's efforts to improve access to the government bond market and the structural reforms in the foreign exchange market. The ministry also assessed that institutional improvements will expand new foreign investments in the Korean government bond market and that existing investors will experience enhanced convenience, resulting in positive effects on investment in Korean government bonds.
Vice Minister Kim also visited the local dealing room of overseas foreign exchange business handling institutions (RFI) in Hong Kong and held a meeting. Representatives of major global banks' Hong Kong branches that are registered or are in the process of registering as Korea's RFIs attended the meeting. Vice Minister Kim promoted that the Korean government is actively improving various reporting and transaction procedures to international standards to raise the accessibility of the foreign exchange market to the level of advanced countries.
Vice Minister Kim also had a luncheon meeting with the head of Euroclear Asia to ensure the smooth operation of the integrated government bond account. He requested, “Please actively cooperate so that the attractiveness of Korean government bonds and the Korean government's institutional improvement efforts are properly recognized and lead to good results.”
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