[THE INVESTOR] The new head of Korea Exchange on Oct. 5 vowed efforts to transform the South Korea’s bourse into a holding company with subsidiaries.

“Given internal and external necessities, a shift to a holding firm is a task we have to achieve at all costs,” KRX CEO Jeong Chan-woo said, starting his three-year tenure.

The KRX has sought to go public and become a holding firm as part of efforts to strengthen governance and expand partnership with overseas bourses. But a related bill failed to pass the previous session of the National Assembly.

 

Addressing his inauguration ceremony held at KRX’s headquarters in Busan, Jeong stressed that the world’s stock exchanges have been confronted with the “trend of changes in business conditions.”

He pointed out that it is important to raise the profitability of the KRX via the diversification of business models.

“The KRX needs to create conditions for innovative start-ups to be found and emerge as global firms,” Jeong said.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)