SEOUL: South Korea’s market watchdog is stressing the role of the public pension fund to ensure the success of ongoing capital market reforms, as the fund which has been aggressively raising overseas investments pledges to look at domestic opportunities.
“The responsible role of pension funds and asset-management firms as long-term investors is paramount to expand the base of investments in the capital market,” Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), said yesterday.
Lee cited the assessment of market participants that increasing domestic investments by Japan’s public pension fund had contributed to the success of its market reforms.
In February, South Korea unveiled a “Corporate Value-up Programme,” mirroring Japan’s capital market reforms, to boost the domestic stock market with measures to encourage more shareholder returns by listed companies.
It has come up with several follow-up measures, including tax cuts, to beef up the programme, since then.
Lee’s comments came at a forum co-hosted by the FSS, the National Pension Service, and the South Korea Exchange. — Reuters
