NPS Selects 3 Foreign Companies as First-Grade General Stock Traders

The National Pension Service (NPS), a major institutional player in the capital market, revealed a pool of trading securities companies for the second half of this year. Samsung Securities which suffered from a naked short selling scandal recently was excluded from the pool while the pool included many foreign brokerage firms.

According to the investment banking industry on June 27, the Stock Investment Office of the Fund Management Headquarters at the NPS announced 35 general stock trading firms including eight first-grade general stock trading companies, eight cyber stock traders, 18 index trading firms as its trading securities firms.

The eight first-grade general stock trading companies are HSBC Securities, NH Investment & Securities, Nomura Financial Investment, Daiwa Securities, Shinhan Financial Investment, Yuanta Securities, Hana Financial Investment and Korea Investment & Securities. Compared to the first half, foreign brokerage firms put up a good fight.

12 firms were selected as the second-grade general stock trading companies. The 12 are CLSA Korea Securities, DB Financial Investment, KB Securities, KTB Investment & Securities, SK Securities, UBS Securities, Goldman Sachs Securities, Daishin Securities, Macquarie Securities, Meritz Securities, Mirae Asset Daewoo and Shinyoung Securities. The pool has 15 third-grade firms including BNK Investment & Securities, CGS-CMB Securities, CS Securities and Morgan Stanley Securities.

The eight cyber stock traders are BNP Paribas Securities, Golden Bridge Investment Securities, Leading Investment & Securities, Baro Investment & Securities, Bookook Securities, Korea Asset Investment & Securities, Taurus Investment & Securities and Hanyang Securities. In addition, NH Investment & Securities, Shinhan Financial Investment, Eugene Investment & Securities and Korea Investment & Securities were selected as first-grade index traders. Among them, NH Investment & Securities, Shinhan Financial Investment, and Korea Investment & Securities doubled their pleasure as they were picked as both first-grade general stock trading companies and first-grade index traders.

Samsung Securities which was a first-grade general stock trading company in the first half of this year was scratched off from the list for the second half of the year. "We excluded Samsung Securities from the trader pool because Samsung Securities was disqualified for failing to meet our risk management standards," an NPS official said.

However, some analysts say the results do not sit with Goldman Sachs Securities. Industry insiders, "Goldman Sachs Securities was also inspected recently by the Financial Supervisory Service for not settling transactions for short selling. Samsung Securities was excluded from the pool while Goldman Sachs Securities was not. This goes against equity" they said. "The year-long absence of the NPS’s chief investment officer (CIO) may have affected the selection of stock traders.”