Enrollment in MSCI
The Ministry of Strategy & Finance, the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Exchange will visit the Asia-Pacific research center of Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) in Hong Kong late this month in order to listen to the opinions of foreign investors and stock exchanges regarding the Korean stock market’s incorporation into the MSCI World Index. Offshore exchange transactions and foreign investor registration are expected to be discussed in this regard there.
At present, the MSCI is continuing to ask the Korean government to lift its ban on the offshore trading of the Korean currency and take some measures so that the won’s exchangeability can be improved. The Korean government is looking to respond to the demand by means of the non-deliverable forward (NDF) market, and the Ministry of Strategy & Finance is opposed to the opening of an offshore exchange market due to the possibility of foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
When it comes to Korea’s foreign investor registration system, the MSCI’s opinion is that it is rather inconvenient, because it requires registration on an individual account basis. The Korean government is planning to discuss measures, including registration on a fund operator basis.
The MSCI asked the government to facilitate the offshore use of the Korea Exchange’s KOSPI 200 Index as well, so that foreign investors do not have to get approval from the stock exchange when using the index abroad for investment purposes.