President Lee Jae Myung (second from left) speaks at the Korea Investment Summit held at the New York Stock Exchange headquarters on Thursday. (Yonhap) NEW YORK — South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday convened an investor relations event at the New York Stock Exchange headquarters in the borough of Manhattan in New York, intent to garner US investors’ attention to his administration’s capital market reform and the market’s growth potential.
In his speech at the “Korea Investment Summit,” Lee pledged South Korea’s capital market reform push and exchanged views on the market reform with top financiers in New York.
South Korea has recently opened NexTrade, an alternative stock trading platform in addition to those run by the Korea Exchange, and has pushed to strengthen regulations when it comes to public filings, to stamp out unfair market practices and to improve the trading system and boost market transparency and investor trust in the market, Kim said.
Additionally, South Korea’s parliament introduced bills to empower minority shareholders and strengthen boardrooms’ fiduciary duty to their shareholders.
Moreover, Lee said he has moved to address geopolitical risks surrounding the Korean Peninsula, due to North Korea’s capability to complete an intercontinental ballistic missile technology in the near future, produce nuclear warheads and export them.
These will be part of his administration’s campaign to improve the fundamentals of South Korean stock market, Lee said.
President Lee Jae Myung (second from right) is seen at the New York Stock Exchange headquarters on Thursday. (Yonhap) Some 20 Wall Street leaders attended. Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser, Pacific Investment Management CEO Emmanuel Roman, Franklin Templeton CEO Jennifer Johnson, JPMorgan Asset and Wealth Management CEO Mary Erdoes, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts co-CEO Joseph Bae, Blackstone Chief Operating Officer John Gray and Goldman Sachs Asset and Wealth Management President Mach Nachmann were among those invited, according to the presidential office.
From South Korea, high-ranking government officials such as Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, Financial Services Commission Chair Lee Eok-won and Financial Supervisory Service Chief Lee Chan-jin, as well as representatives of the Korea Exchange, National Pension Service and the sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corp., attended the event alongside the president. SK Group Chair Chey Tae-won also made an appearance.
Before the event, Lee also met NYSE President Lynn Martin behind closed doors and attended the opening bell-ringing ceremony before the event with New York-based financial professionals.
South Korean national flags are displayed at the New York Stock Exchange headquarters on Thursday. (Yonhap) His visit to the NYSE headquarters is meant to “encourage Wall Street investors to invest in (the capital market of) Korea,” Lee’s national policy aide Kim Yong-beom said in a briefing Wednesday, hours before the session.
This marks the fourth time a South Korean president has convened such an investor relations event in New York, following Roh Moo-hyun in 2003, Lee Myung-bak in 2008 and Moon Jae-in in 2017.
National policy aide Kim, however, said it was the first time a South Korean president was to hold such an event at the NYSE headquarters.
Before Lee’s US trip, Wi Sung-lac, director of national security at the presidential office, said that the event was meant to address the “Korea Discount,” the chronic undervaluation of South Korea’s domestic stocks.
consnow@heraldcorp.com