Korea Securities Depository hosts 12th Securities Financing Forum

Korea Securities Depository announced Monday that it held the 12th Securities Financing Forum at the Island Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong, bringing together domestic and international securities financing market participants.

First held in 2012, the forum was established to share key issues facing the domestic and international securities financing markets and to expand exchanges among market participants.

This year's forum drew about 130 attendees from major Hong Kong financial institutions and related organizations, including Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), Citibank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Morgan Stanley.

The forum opened with a presentation by Simone Broadfield, APAC head of securities services at J.P. Morgan, on global securities financing trends and developments. Presentations by Korea Securities Depository officials on "Korea's capital market evolving for global investors" and "current state of domestic securities lending" followed.

After the presentations, attendees engaged in open discussion on the latest trends in the global securities financing market, practical experiences and key issues.

In a welcome address, President Lee Yun-su said efforts are ongoing to upgrade Korea's capital market infrastructure to global standards, highlighting the depository's push to shorten the securities settlement cycle to T+1 and build an electronic general meeting system.

Lee also said the depository is working to improve foreign investors' access to Korea's capital market, pointing to initiatives including the activation of International Central Securities Depository (ICSD) integrated government bond accounts in line with Korea's inclusion in the World Government Bond Index (WGBI), and the publication of a government bond utilization guide for foreign investors.

Lee added that the depository would respond swiftly and faithfully to the evolving regulatory environment to advance Korea's securities financing market, pledging to work closely with policy authorities and related organizations and to serve as a bridge connecting market views with policy.

"We plan to continue strengthening communication with domestic and international market participants and listening to investors, while making every effort to ensure that market demand and on-the-ground feedback are reflected in system and regulatory improvements in a timely manner," a Korea Securities Depository official said.