Web site will serve foreign investors

In an effort to cater to foreign investors in Korea, the Financial Supervisory Service announced yesterday that its Web site for regulatory filing would be available in English, starting in January. The Web site is commonly known as DART, short for data analysis, retrieval and transfer system. It is a Web site where listed companies can post their regulatory filing data directly online without submitting it in hard copies. The development of the site began in the summer of 1998, and the comprehensive filing service covering companies listed in both the Kospi and the Kosdaq launched four years later. The data are available for public viewing. Under the plan announced yesterday, the financial regulator would encourage local listed companies to submit their online filings in English so that foreign investors can read the information. Firms listed in both local and foreign stock markets would be the first group asked to submit their filings in both Korean and English. Domestic companies would be asked to post material from investor relations presentations conducted in foreign countries. The agency added that it would link the English section of the listed companies’ Web sites to DART. The English sites of Korea Exchange, the operator of local stock and futures markets, and of Korea Listed Companies Association, would also be linked with the DART site. by Yoo Jee-ho