Short selling ban to be lifted by first half

Dubious practice: Daewoo Securities Co employees work in front of monitors displaying the Korea Composite Stock Price Index or Kospi. Illegal short sales account for more than 20% of daily transactions in a number of South Korean stocks. — Bloomberg

SEOUL: South Korea will likely lift a ban on short selling by the end of the first half of the year as policymakers want to align its markets to global standards, Shinhan Financial Group Co’s chief executive says, indicating industry expectations that the heavily scrutinised pause won’t extend.

Regulators are ironing out kinks in how short-selling is conducted and monitored, and the authorities understand that they should “create an environment for investors to invest freely,” Jin Okdong, head of the nation’s No. 2 financial company, said in a Bloomberg televised interview with David Ingles in Seoul.