FSS chief hints at end of short-selling ban as planned

Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Bok-hyun presents on stage during an investor relations event held in New York on Thursday. [FSS]

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Gov. Lee Bok-hyun signaled that the current ban on short selling may be partially lifted in June as previously planned.

“I personally wish, or plan, to allow short selling practices in June, at least partially,” said Lee during a meeting with the press after an investor relations (IR) event held in New York on Thursday.

“Even if there may be some technological and regulatory gaps regarding lifting the current ban in June, we still need to communicate with market players on our progress with the reinstatement of the short-selling system, providing certain time frames,” said the governor.

During the IR event, Lee said that normalizing the system is necessary to resolve the "Korea discount," a phenomenon referring to the chronic undervaluation of local stocks.

Naked short selling, illegal in Korea, is the practice of shorting stocks without borrowing them first. In November of last year, authorities banned short selling through June, and are currently developing a monitoring system designed to detect the illegal trades.

Following Lee’s comment, the FSS said in a notice on Sunday that “no decision has been made regarding the short-selling ban,” and that the governor’s intention with the comment was to suggest that “a specific schedule regarding the resumption of short selling needs to be provided.”

During the latest IR event, jointly held by the FSS and the Korea Exchange, representatives from Korea’s financial authorities delivered presentations on the domestic financial market situation and measures implemented to resolve the Korea discount to attract foreign investors.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]