Korea Securities Depository (KSD) said it will improve foreign investor access and move to strengthen competitiveness in security token offerings (STOs) and digital asset for sustainable growth this year, preparing for the KOSPI 5000 era.
Lee Sun-ho, president of Korea Securities Depository (KSD), said in a New Year's address on the 2nd, "In a rapidly changing financial environment, we are facing greater change and challenges than ever," and added, "In addition to our core roles of supporting government policy and the market, we intend to focus on six tasks to strengthen KSD's competitiveness and achieve sustainable growth."
First, Lee said he will raise foreign investors' access to the domestic stock market as an institutional foundation to reach KOSPI 5000. To that end, in connection with inclusion in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) developed markets index, KSD will push to improve the settlement process for foreigners' omnibus accounts, extend the closing time of the bond central counterparty settlement system, and build a legal entity identifier (LEI) verification system.
It also plans to create an environment for electronic general meetings and e-voting for foreign shareholders to establish a voting framework that meets global standards.
For exchange rate stability and funding, it plans to encourage inflows of foreign funds by activating integrated Government Bonds accounts. Through a pension subscription system for retail Government Bonds and building settlement platforms for STOs and fractional investments, it will support both corporations' fundraising and the public's asset building.
Building a next-generation innovative finance platform is also one of this year's key tasks. KSD plans to sequentially open a new management support system, a digital workplace, and next-generation platforms for securities agency and global operations. KSD said this goes beyond a simple upgrade of internal systems and represents a shift to a structure that can respond more flexibly to external changes.
It also stressed it will respond to the digital asset market. KSD has begun building a testbed platform for security token offerings (STOs) and developing operating systems, and it is reviewing the potential to enter custody for spot virtual asset exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Lee said, "The rapid growth of the digital asset market is both an opportunity to enter new business areas and a risk-laden crisis," adding, "In particular, atomic settlement is fundamentally questioning KSD's reason for being and necessity as a 'trusted intermediary.'"
In response, Lee emphasized, "KSD will solidify its position as a leader through proactive responses and business expansion driven by change and innovation."
Lee also said, "The emergence of new electronic registration institutions and a competitive landscape based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) are changes KSD has never experienced," and added, "Through change and innovation, we will go beyond mere response to proactively expand our role."
In addition, KSD plans to boost its digital competitiveness by introducing generative artificial intelligence (AI), digitizing securities data, and expanding automation of electronic registration tasks, and to advance the stability of core financial platforms—registration, settlement, funds, securities borrowing and lending, repo, and global—by linking them to next-generation projects.
Lee said, "With the mindset of 'bonnipdoseong'—that a path forward emerges only when the fundamentals are established—we will strengthen the stable operation and competitiveness of core financial platforms."