Samsung Securities drops bid to issue promissory notes

Samsung Securities has voluntarily withdrawn its application for the right to issue promissory notes, the company said on Friday, after facing government penalties over its fat-finger fiasco.

The brokerage has sought regulatory approval since July last year for a license to issue promissory notes in a bid to expand its business scope to investment banking.

In a regulatory filing, Samsung Securities said the decision to revoke was made “in consideration of market conditions and corporate circumstances.” Whether it would make further attempts “will be decided later after factoring in the relevant conditions,” the company said.

Samsung Securities is banned from pushing into new businesses until July 2020 as part of punitive measures for an incident in April where the firm mistakenly paid 112 trillion won ($99.5 billion) worth of stocks to its employees as dividends and 16 employees sold off a combined 5.01 million ghost shares.

The issuance of promissory notes is one of the key rights open to investment banks that have more than 4 trillion won in capital.

Last year, the government gave brokerages the green light to pursue the business in the interest of nurturing investment banks.

Yonhap