KOFIA Holds Research Center Directors Meeting to Enhance Capital Market Value

The Korea Financial Investment Association announced on the 10th that it held the 'Capital Market Value-Up Research Center Heads Meeting.'

This meeting was organized to listen to the opinions of the financial investment industry regarding the recently announced ‘Corporate Value-Up Program’ and to explore the active role of the financial investment sector in enhancing the capital market value.

At the Korea Financial Investment Association, Executive Director Changhwa Lee and Head of Securities and Futures Division Seongdae Cheon attended. Also present were Senior Research Fellow Hyoseop Lee from the Capital Market Research Institute and heads of research centers from eight securities firms.

Executive Director Changhwa Lee stated, “Resolving the Korea Discount and enhancing capital market value are long-standing challenges and aspirations of our industry,” adding, “Interest and expectations from domestic and foreign investors in the Korean capital market are higher than ever, and our industry will make every effort to enhance value.”

Regarding the recently announced ‘Corporate Value-Up Program,’ Center Head Joongwoo Yoo of Korea Investment & Securities said, “The disclosure of the ‘Corporate Value Enhancement Plan’ can contribute to reducing information asymmetry among investors, including non-financial indicators,” and added, “It is meaningful as it can serve as an opportunity to spread management activities considering mid- to long-term shareholder return policies.”

Center Head Taebong Ko of Hi Investment & Securities explained, “It is significant in that companies are becoming interested in their fair value, and there is now a route for companies to communicate their own value assessments and future improvement plans to investors.”

Center Head Seunghoon Lee of IBK Investment & Securities emphasized, “Just as Japan resolved the Japan Discount based on long-term plans such as governance improvements since 2012, our ‘Corporate Value-Up Program’ should not be limited to short-term execution but requires continuous promotion.”

Additionally, Team Leader Seungmin Yoo of Samsung Securities explained, “In the past, discussions focused on stock price or valuation recovery to resolve the Korea Discount,” and added, “After the implementation of the ‘Corporate Value-Up Program,’ it is expected that discussions will expand to voluntary and fundamental efforts by companies to enhance corporate value.”

Regarding the role of the financial investment industry in enhancing capital market value, Center Head Heechan Park of Mirae Asset Securities said, “Corporate valuation is a function of growth, return, and risk,” and added, “In the future, in estimating corporate performance and valuation, we will actively consider governance, cash flow, and book value in addition to traditional income statement analysis.”

Center Head Younghoon Park of Hanwha Investment & Securities stated, “We will strive to increase the number of corporate analysis reports that honestly convey the current status and suggest improvement directions for companies showing low shareholder return rates, passive shareholder communication, and opaque transactions.”

Center Head Changyong Yoon of Shinhan Investment Corp. explained, “We are internally planning to calculate value-up ratings using financial and non-financial information of listed companies and to compose an investment universe related to value-up.”

Also, Deputy General Manager Dongrak Gong of Daishin Securities emphasized, “We actively provide information to investors by publishing issue reports on how research center coverage companies are responding to the value-up program.”

Meanwhile, the Korea Financial Investment Association plans to continue its communication efforts with the industry for capital market value enhancement by consecutively holding executive meetings with asset management companies on the 14th and planning executives of domestic and foreign securities firms on the 16th.

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