Former Representative Seomyeongseok: "Catch Small Fires Before They Spread into Big Ones"

[Interview with Candidate for Chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association④]
Seomyeongseok, Former CEO of Yuanta Securities
"Association Needs Vitality Comparable to Private Companies"

Seom Seong-seok, Former CEO of Yuanta Securities

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] "Before scolding financial institutions, policymakers should focus on stabilizing the market first, before a small fire spreads uncontrollably into a large blaze."

Seomyeongseok, former CEO of Yuanta Securities and a candidate for the 6th Financial Investment Association chairman election, stated on the 3rd, "The current liquidity crisis in the capital market is strongly characterized by frictional factors such as the Legoland incident, in addition to fundamental factors like inflation and rising interest rates."

The Government Must Calm Market Anxiety

Former CEO Seo cited Ben Bernanke, the Nobel laureate and former Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), saying, "As pointed out, financial crises worsen when confidence in system stability is lost, so it is necessary to soothe market participants' anxieties." He explained, "The government and the Bank of Korea must immediately supply liquidity where needed and declare broad credit support."

Regarding real estate project financing (PF), he diagnosed, "In the short term, the problem is liquidity depletion caused by extreme avoidance of real estate PF-related bonds, but fundamentally, it is an issue of increased credit risk of real estate PF due to the cooling of the real estate market." He added, "Since this risk is beyond the control of financial investment companies, it is necessary to rapidly reduce the risk even if it means sacrificing some profits, to prepare for the possibility of further deterioration."

He also pointed out, "Funds continue to flow out through Korea Electric Power Corporation bonds or bank bonds, which could lead to a market crisis, so action is needed."

Former CEO Seomyeongseok: "The Best Negotiation Strategist"

In this situation, former CEO Seo lamented, "It is very unfortunate that the association has had almost no presence and has failed to lead any issues," and stated, "To enhance crisis management capabilities, the association's organization must have the vitality of a private company."

He identified current problems of the association as the loss of market trust due to inadequate response to the private equity fund incident, the slowdown of asset management vitality due to tightly strengthened investor protection, neglect of issues such as custodians, delayed responses during the capital market deterioration period, and the absence of proactive proposals for capital market development.

Accordingly, former CEO Seo emphasized that if elected, he aims to "contribute to the development of the capital market and financial investment industry by leveraging my professional insight gained from over 20 years of research experience, representing the understanding of the financial investment industry, and serving as the best negotiation strategist to communicate efficiently with authorities."

In 2013, he directly negotiated with administrative authorities such as the Financial Services Commission, Financial Supervisory Service, and courts regarding the Dongyang Securities, which was on the brink of bankruptcy, and later led cross-border M&A to create the current Yuanta Securities.

Finally, former CEO Seo stressed, "A leader must share with all members the organization's reason for existence, core values, and future dreams," and added, "The chairman of the Financial Investment Association must possess top-level insight into issues of the capital market and financial investment industry and have the persuasion and presentation skills to confidently confront expert groups."

Four Major Strategies Seo Myeong-seok, Former CEO of Yuanta Securities, Plans to Implement if Elected as Chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association.

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