Top financial watchdog vows to push ahead with capital market initiatives

In a meeting with dozens of bankers and financiers in Hong Kong on Monday, FSS Gov. Lee Bok-hyun said Korea's financial authorities will continue to carry out policy priorities for the capital markets based on solid fundamentals and strong resilience of the country's economy.

The country lifted its ban on short selling for all stocks for the first time in five years last month, reports Yonhap news agency.

"This represents the Korean financial authorities' firm commitment to market predictability and investor confidence, and I can assure you that it will stay this way going forward," he said.

Lee stressed that South Korea has worked to enhance shareholders' interests and corporate values as a key priority under capital market initiatives, which include new legal safeguards to better protect shareholders, partly by fine-tuning stock delisting rules.

He stressed that efforts to lay a more effective legal basis and framework for better protecting shareholders' interests are under way, referring to a proposed revision of the Commercial Act.

Lee also said more steps have been taken to improve foreign investors' access to the country's capital markets.

Meanwhile, South Korea's money supply rose for the 21st consecutive month in February, led by an increase in time deposits and other savings amid the monetary easing cycle and market uncertainties, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

The country's M2, a key gauge of the money supply, stood at 4,229.5 trillion won ($2.97 trillion) in February, up 0.6 percent from a month earlier, according to the preliminary data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The money supply has been on a constant increase since June 2023.

On a year-on-year basis, the money supply advanced 7.2 percent in February. The M2 is a measure of the money supply that counts cash, demand deposits and other easily convertible financial instruments.