▲ Lee Eog-weon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) (Yonhap)

chief regulator-single-stock ETFs

S. Korea to ease rules for single-stock ETFs: chief regulator

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- The chief financial regulator said Wednesday that the country will soften rules to introduce high-risk, leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to woo domestic investors.

In a meeting with reporters, Lee Eog-weon, chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), said single-stock leveraged, or inverse, ETFs will be allowed to provide up to two times the daily performance of an underlying stock.

"We will streamline and ease related regulations to enhance the attractiveness of the local financial market," Lee said.

His remarks came as the local stock market has been shunned by retail investors due to its sluggish performance.

That trend, however, changed recently as the country's benchmark index, the KOSPI, has rallied more than 90 percent over the past year on a boom in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and a rise in chip stocks, such as Samsung Electronics.

Financial authorities expect more retail investors to return to the domestic market, which would help stem the Korean won's slide against the U.S. dollar.

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