The chief of the Korea Financial Investment Association on Thursday vowed to make greater efforts to support member companies and the capital market, seeking active investment for the state-led New Deal Fund and in environment, social and governance policy changes.

Followed by President Moon Jae-in’s announcement of a bold push for a Korean version of the New Deal program last year, the local finance industry has been paying keen attention to the government’s project-related business for innovative finance. It is also seeking ways to generate stable profits and invest in growing industries with enough market liquidity.

“While 28 private New Deal Funds had already launched, we’re preparing to establish New Deal Infrastructure Funds with member firms,” Na Jae-chul, Chairman of the KOFIA, which represents 452 local brokerages and asset management firms, told reporters during a press briefing.

At the same time, he promised to actively support member companies, so the local securities firms and asset management firms can offer various K-New Deal Funds to investors as alternative investment sources.

Despite the rising global trend of ESG investing, the local market is still in its initial stage, he said. However, since the state pension fund utilizes ESG as its investment index, socially-responsible investing has become more important.

The authorities are asking firms listed on the nation’s benchmark Kospi with total assets valued at 2 trillion won ($1.81 billion) or more to release their ESG data from 2025 until 2030, when the requirement will be expanded to all listed companies.

Brokerage houses have also recently published analysis evaluation reports for local firms on the matter. They are working on launching private ESG indexes as well, the chairman added, while highlighting the importance of activating ESG investments and developing more ESG-oriented fund products.

“To further assist settlements of ESG investment and embed ESG into corporate culture here, We’ve planned to form an ‘ESG consultative body’ this year to actively respond to policy changes and prepare to adopt market-friendly systems,” Na explained.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)