[2020 National Audit] Lee Myung-ho, President of Korea Securities Depository, "Efforts to Improve Systems for Transparency in Private Equity Funds"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Myung-ho, President of the Korea Securities Depository, stated on the 20th during the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee audit that he would "strive to improve systems for transparency in private equity funds" in response to questions about the Optimus incident.

On the same day, Kang Min-guk, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the People Power Party, pointed out that the Korea Securities Depository had a problem in the Optimus Asset Management incident by incorporating private bonds into public institution accounts receivable without any suspicion.

From April 11, 2016, to May 21 of this year, private bonds of unlisted companies such as Rafique, CPNS, and Daebu DK AMC were renamed as accounts receivable from Busan Port Authority and Korea Land & Housing Corporation and recorded in the asset statement.

During this process, there was a request from Optimus, and although an email sent by Optimus to the Depository included a 'Private Bond Underwriting Agreement,' the Depository did not conduct even minimal verification, according to Kang's explanation.

Kang questioned, "It is problematic to say it was a simple mistake to incorporate assets that appear to be public institution accounts receivable when they are actually private bonds," and asked, "Is it appropriate to make an irresponsible statement like 'unmanned locker manager'?"

In response, President Lee said, "It is a common practice in the industry, and in the case of custodians, they record based on materials sent by asset management companies."

However, Kang said, "Although it is called a practice, I heard from other custodians that there is no case of changing private bonds into public institution accounts receivable," and criticized, "It is irresponsible as a public institution."

Optimus Asset Management told investors that it was investing in stable public institution accounts receivable, but in reality, it invested in poor-quality assets such as private bonds of lending companies, eventually causing a fund redemption suspension incident.

Some argue that the Korea Securities Depository cannot be free from responsibility in this incident. There are criticisms that the actual asset names should have been properly verified and recorded.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.