Korea Exchange vows to toughen its investigations

The Korea Exchange (KRX) will strengthen its investigations this year into suspicious stock transactions on listed companies with high credit risks, as large-scale corporate restructurings are expected to begin this year, said the KRX’s Market Oversight Commission on Tuesday at its business-plan reporting session.

The commission said it will immediately begin investigations if major shareholders sell or purchase large amounts of shares before or after the quarterly report season to prevent unfair trades.

Cracking down on the illegal brokerage activities similar to a deal caught by the prosecutor’s office in block deal trades last year involving Kakao stock, the commission will also hold a total inspection of all asset management and securities firms this year, and get them to establish an industry-wide compliance system. A KRX employee was imprisoned last December for illegally receiving a brokerage fee after arranging a block deal between a Kakao shareholder and institutional investors to sell stocks in 2013, before the IT giant merged with Daum and went public in 2014.