As the Financial Supervisory Service pointed out that securities firms' overseas stock marketing has overheated and began applying pressure, Korean retail investors trading U.S. stocks moved to find other ways to boost fee benefits. Many securities firms, under pressure from the authorities, hastily ended overseas stock-related events early, but some are still running events, prompting advice to sign up for those products.
On the 24th, according to the financial investment industry, on online communities, Korean retail investors trading U.S. stocks are sharing tips such as, "No one knows when the benefits for new subscribers on products currently underway will disappear, so sign up before they end early."
A representative product is Meritz Securities' non-face-to-face exclusive account "Super365." Meritz Securities is running an event through the end of December next year under which it does not charge any transaction fees at all—including commissions for buying and selling domestic and overseas stocks, foreign exchange fees, and fees charged by related institutions—when transacting through the account.
Meritz's Super365 account has been an event continuing for over a year since November last year, making it very different from other securities firms that run events in units of several months.
Separately from Super365, Meritz Securities had held events offering coffee when the U.S. stock transaction amount exceeded 1 million won and an event to accumulate overseas stocks.
However, the mood changed as the Financial Supervisory Service pressured securities firms to suspend advertisements and events related to overseas investment. The Financial Supervisory Service recently summoned officials from major securities firms with a large share of brokerage (stock consignment trading) business and had them suspend events and advertisements related to overseas investment. Starting in January next year, it will completely ban related events and issued guidance telling securities firms not to excessively reflect related key performance indicators (KPI) in next year's business plans.
Securities firms immediately began to read the authorities' mood. They first started to end ongoing overseas stock-related events early.
Kiwoom Securities ended "Start U.S. stocks with $33" and "three months of free commissions for opening a non-face-to-face account." Meritz Securities ended its U.S. stock daytime trading event early, and NH Investment & Securities also ended its U.S. stock daytime trading and overseas stock events. Mirae Asset Securities and Samsung Securities also halted overseas stock-related promotions.
Meritz Securities also ended early events such as offering coffee based on the U.S. stock transaction amount and accumulating overseas stocks. However, it decided to maintain the commission-free policy for overseas stocks through the end of next year.
With the situation as it is, individual investors began looking for a "niche market." Interest in Meritz Securities' Super365 rose sharply online.
However, as the Financial Supervisory Service's pressure intensifies, Meritz Securities' events are also highly likely to end early. Meritz Securities is said to be discussing internally whether to continue the related policy.
In this regard, Meritz Securities said it will run the commission-free overseas stock event for Super365 only through this year. Customers who open an account within this year will be eligible for commission-free overseas stock trading through the end of next year. But customers who open accounts next year will no longer receive this benefit.
Frustration among individual investors is growing. Many overseas stock investors noted, "Even if the strong dollar situation is severe, shifting the responsibility onto Korean retail investors trading U.S. stocks and blocking events that investors should enjoy is not reasonable."