The chief of South Korea's financial watchdog said Wednesday that a system to detect illegal short selling will help regain market confidence as the country is set to lift its temporary ban on the stock trading practice at the end of this month.
In a ceremony to demonstrate the monitoring system, Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, also said his agency and the stock market operator will redouble efforts to advance the country's financial market by making access by foreign investors to the market easier and by better safeguarding shareholders via various measures.
The country imposed a temporary ban on stock short selling in November 2023 after a series of naked short selling violations involving several global investment banks were discovered.
The watchdog levied a combined 83.6 billion won ($57.8 million) in fines on 13 global investment banks over illegal short selling practices.
The financial regulator said earlier it is planning to allow short selling on all publicly traded companies here.
Before the short selling ban, only 350 listed firms, namely the constituents of the Kospi 200 index and the Kosdaq 150 index, had been subject to short selling. (Yonhap)
