Former SK Securities CEO Lee Hyeon-seung gave a presentation on measures to revitalize the capital market at a policy forum held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the 18th.
On this day, Lee gave a presentation at the Policy Forum for Upgrading the Financial Industry at the National Assembly Members' Office Building under the theme "International financial city Seoul: Revitalizing the capital market is the key." At the event, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chan-jin delivered congratulatory remarks, and People Power Party lawmaker Kang Jun-hyeon, a secretary of the National Policy Committee, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Ju-min, and others attended.
Lee said, "The fundamental factors threatening the sustainability of the Korean economy are aging and low growth, and the solution to overcome them lies in the capital market," emphasizing the need for bold and innovative policy shifts and deregulation to revitalize the capital market.
He said that revitalizing the capital market can simultaneously deliver three effects: securing stable retirement in an aging era, easing the government's fiscal burden, and obtaining growth engines through productive finance such as capital raising by innovative companies. He explained that capital market revitalization offers individuals an expansion of pensions and investment income in addition to earned income, eases fiscal burdens for the government, and provides corporations with opportunities to expand growth engines.
Lee argued that because the capital market is changing rapidly with the expansion of digital assets such as industries related to artificial intelligence (AI), security token offerings (STO), and stablecoins, it is necessary to enact a new special law that goes beyond the existing Capital Markets Act.
He argued that only a two-track strategy—in which an international financial hub package to attract foreign investment and support packages for domestic securities firms, asset management companies, and individual investors are implemented simultaneously—can enable a leap forward for Korea's capital market.
Lee argued that to channel funds from the real estate market into the capital market, the tax systems of the real estate market and the capital market should be compared and analyzed, and that the special deduction for long-term holdings applied only to the real estate market should also apply to stocks and funds, with separate taxation and lower tax rates on dividends for long-term investments by small shareholders.
He also said it is urgent to overhaul unnecessary regulations to the level of global standards, boldly eliminate unnecessary regulations, and shift from positive regulation to negative regulation to secure flexibility for financial innovation. He cited shortages as a representative example that has hindered market revitalization.
Considering the characteristics of the financial industry, which is linked in real time with overseas markets, Lee also saw the need to apply an exception to the 52-hour workweek. He added that to become an international financial city, it is necessary to build talent and infrastructure and to establish a differentiated international financial city model unique to Seoul.
A successful candidate in the 32nd Higher Civil Service Examination, Lee began a public service career at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, worked at Merrill Lynch Securities, served six years as CEO of SK Securities, and then headed asset management firms including KB Asset Management for about 10 years.