Financial Services Commission "Optimus Approval and Registration Canceled... Fund Management Transfer Order"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] On the 24th, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) resolved at the 21st regular meeting to revoke the license and registration of Optimus Asset Management, impose fines, and sanction its executives and employees.

With the FSC's resolution, the financial investment business license and registration of Optimus Asset Management were canceled. The company was fined 114.4 million KRW. For the executives, dismissal requests and suspension of duties were decided.

Additionally, the FSC ordered that all 43 funds managed by Optimus Asset Management be transferred to Recovery Asset Management, a bridge management company jointly established by the fund distributors. The transfer date is set for the 25th.

In July, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recommended to the FSC sanctions including license and registration cancellation and trust contract transfer orders at the disciplinary committee. The sanctions were finalized with this resolution.

Recovery Asset Management will take over the duties of fund manager and carry out the recovery of Optimus assets.

The FSC appointed the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation as the liquidator to proceed with the liquidation process of Optimus Asset Management, which is dissolving due to the cancellation of its financial investment business license and registration.

The FSC will supervise to ensure that the funds transferred to Recovery Asset Management are properly managed in accordance with laws and regulations.

The Optimus incident involved Optimus Asset Management soliciting fund investors last year, raising over 1 trillion KRW in investments, deceiving investors, and investing in bonds of insolvent companies, resulting in massive losses.

To protect investors and prevent gaps in fund management and operation, the FSC decided on June 30 last year to issue a corrective order against Optimus Asset Management. This order was extended twice thereafter. The order included a full suspension of business, suspension of executives' duties, and appointment of a manager.

During the corrective order period, the distributors jointly invested to establish a new management company (Recovery Asset Management) to take over and manage the Optimus funds, signing a shareholders' agreement in June. This month, Recovery Asset Management registered as a general private collective investment business entity.

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