[Edaily Reporter kyoungeun kim ] Oh Ki-hyung, Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea’s Special Committee on K-Capital Markets, stated unequivocally that there will be no additional listings of single-stock leveraged products.

Chairman Oh Ki-hyung made these remarks while speaking with reporters immediately following the “Seminar on Measures to Advance South Korea’s Capital Markets and Enhance Global Competitiveness,” hosted by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Kim Nam-jun and held in Conference Room No. 8 of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building that day.
This seminar was organized to coincide with President Lynn Martin’s visit to South Korea. During the seminar, participants heard about the operational experiences and best practices of advanced markets aimed at ensuring market stability and protecting investors amid increasing global market volatility, and discussed the institutional environment and challenges for expanding investment by global long-term capital in the Korean market.

Chairman Oh noted that “trading volume has fallen to one-tenth of its previous level” following regulatory measures such as raising the minimum deposit requirement, adding, “I believe the regulations have had some effect.” He continued, “As stock market volatility has increased, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and, if legislative solutions are necessary, we will review them as well.” Furthermore, regarding the controversy over the execution of the lower price limit during the pre-market session, he added, “Although Nextrade has indicated it will take certain measures, we are also concerned about the potential for market disruption.”

In his opening remarks at the seminar, Representative Oh said, “Last year, the KOSPI rose from the 2,700 level to 9,300 before correcting to around 6,000, showing a trend that no one could have anticipated,” adding, “Although we have made great efforts to secure investor confidence in the capital market by proportionally safeguarding shareholder interests, I do not believe this has yet taken full root. “We will continue our efforts to establish a support level for the market during the remainder of this term,” he stated. He went on to emphasize, “The real challenge for the Korean capital market is to break away from an industrial structure overly concentrated on semiconductors, discover more innovative companies, and build the strength to overcome the low-growth phase,” adding, “Along with securing trust in corporate governance, the discovery of innovative companies must be supported as a national policy priority.”

Lynn Martin, President of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group, referred to the visit by President Lee Jae-myung and a South Korean delegation to the NYSE last September, stating, “I am here as a partner in the development of the South Korean capital market.” She stated, “We wish to participate in the modernization of South Korea’s capital markets not as regulators but as partners, and we would like to share the NYSE’s experience in building institutional trust between governments and exchanges, accumulated over more than 230 years of operation.”

President Lynn Martin highlighted market trust and stability as key issues. She noted that global capital market regulations have undergone significant changes amid the pandemic, geopolitical shocks, and the advancement of Shinhung technologies, adding that the more distinctive a market is, the more important investor trust, a high-quality institutional framework, and appropriate investor protection measures become. “On March 20 of last year, a record 3.57 billion shares were traded during the New York Stock Exchange’s Closing Auction, and the notional value of trades also reached a record high of $230.5 billion,” he said, adding, “The Pillar system, the NYSE’s matching engine, has maintained stable performance even during periods of surging volatility and trading volume.”

He went on to explain, “Technology alone is not enough; Designated Market Makers (DMMs) are assigned to all securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange to maintain the opening and closing auctions and provide liquidity when necessary.” He noted that combining technology with human judgment to enhance the quality of the opening and closing auctions has resulted in lower volatility and narrower spreads.

President Lin Martin announced plans to accelerate the development of a tokenized securities platform. He noted that the company is driving market infrastructure innovation—including the development of a platform for trading tokenized securities and on-chain settlement—through its participation in the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) tokenization pilot program last July, and reported that a pilot issuance of tokenized securities was also conducted in July.

He also unveiled plans to extend trading hours. He stated that, as the first in the U.S. to receive approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company is preparing to expand trading hours from the current 16 hours per week (based on a five-day workweek) to 23 hours, effectively enabling round-the-clock market access. Referring to South Korea’s transition to a 24-hour trading system for the won-dollar foreign exchange market, he noted that while the structures of the U.S. and South Korean securities markets differ, the direction of the systems being developed is the same.