[THE INVESTOR] Korea Exchange will aggressively push for restructuring of the current governance of the stock trading board operator, said its CEO Jeong Chan-woo on Tuesday.

At the first press conference since his inauguration early this month, Jeong affirmed his firm determination in carrying out the long-held government plan aimed at boosting the county’s capital market. 

The governance restructuring has been a major challenge of the Financial Services Commission, as the KRX trade union and some lawmakers strongly oppose it. A bill to revise the nation’s Capital Market Act in order to establish a holding company for the KRX and list each stock market index – Kospi, Kosdaq and Konex – on foreign stock markets has been pending at the National Assembly since last year.

“My top priority is the restructuring of the KRX structure,” Jeong said. “I will make all-out efforts to have the revision bill pass through the Assembly as early as possible.”

Jeong pledged to reset the institution under the holding company system as slimly as possible in pursuit of efficiency.

“We will widen strategic partnerships with overseas stock index operators and increase exporting of our IT-based stock trading system to various countries,” he said. “KRX will consider acquiring stakes in some foreign stock exchanges in order to make its IPO successful.”

To make the Korean capital market one of the 10 biggest markets in the world, KRX will come up with measures, including improving listing and transaction regulations for foreign businesses.

“To attract promising foreign businesses, current regulations need to be aligned with international standards,” Jeong said.

In the protracted low interest rate and low growth environment, KRX will increase efforts to develop a variety of indirect investment vehicles such as equity-traded funds and equity-traded notes, the CEO said.

By Song Su-hyun/The Korea Herald (song@heraldcorp.com)