South Korea prepares new monitoring system to detect illegal stock short selling

South Korea's financial market watchdog announced on Thursday that it is reviewing the effectiveness of a new monitoring system designed to identify illegal short-selling of domestic stocks before lifting a ban on such transactions.

The Capital Markets Act in South Korea prohibits 'naked' short-selling of stocks, where an investor sells shares without borrowing them first or ensuring they are available for borrowing.

The new system will electronically process all short-selling transactions by institutional investors and filter them through a central detection system established at the stock exchange operator, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) stated. Lee Bok-hyun, the governor of FSS, highlighted the role of illegal short-selling in undermining market credibility among domestic investors, which has contributed to the 'Korea discount.'

South Korea's reforms aim to address the "Korea discount," which is characterized by lower valuations of domestic companies compared to global peers due to factors like low dividend payouts and opaque governance structures.

"With this double-layered checking system working properly, we hope it will root out illegal short selling," Lee said in a statement released prior to an event to explain the new system to market experts and retail investors.

The regulator noted that the adoption of the new system would proceed after final swift checks, but did not specify a date.

The ban on short selling of shares will continue through the first half of this year, as authorities imposed it abruptly last November following the discovery of illegal trades by several foreign investment banks. Financial authorities have indicated that the ban will remain in place until sufficient prevention measures are put in place.

Regarding the lifting of the ban, Lee mentioned that it is challenging to determine the timeline as authorities need to assess the implementation duration of the new mechanism and its effectiveness.

Despite potential costs, most institutional and foreign investors support the adoption of the electronic system to restore the confidence of domestic retail investors, Lee added. To ensure a fair playing field, South Korea also intends to relax short-selling rules for retail investors and establish a new borrowing limit for institutional and foreign investors once the ban is lifted.