South Korea pledges to take further measures to curb demand for leveraged ETFs

Glonghui July 28 | Lee Eog-weon, chairman of the Korean Financial Services Commission, said that if the latest restriction measures fail to achieve the desired effect, Korea will be prepared to take further measures to curb investor demand for leveraged ETFs, including setting investment limits for individual investors. The Financial Services Commission said in a statement that if these measures, which take effect from July 31, fail to sufficiently suppress demand, regulators will consider further tightening investment requirements. The Financial Services Commission also said it is discussing accelerating the previously planned process of increasing the minimum trading unit. On Tuesday, Lee met with investment industry management to discuss the issue of leveraged ETFs. Proposed schemes under consideration include: requiring regular mandatory online training, including simulated trading courses; limiting individuals’ investment in leveraged ETFs to a certain percentage of their total investment assets.