Chairman Park Jong-soo of the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) attended the 27th annual conference of the International Investment Fund Association and New Portfolio Korea meetings from Oct. 16-25 in the United States.
KOFIA Chairman Park called on a number of key U.S. investment funds in a bid to find a model for Korean-type asset management including the management of ETFs in the U.S. retirement fund market. He visited such key fund management firms as Charles Schwab and Blackrock and attended a breakfast meeting hosted by Chairman Henry Fernandez of MSCI Inc. to exchange views on the asset management and the capital market in Korea and at the same time to seek joint investment cooperation among institutional investors in Korea and the United States.
Chairman Park attended the annual conference of the IIFA and met with heads of asset management associations from key financial countries such as the United States, Great Britain, France, and Japan. The association was set up in 1987 in Germany as an organization to discuss current issues and trends in the global fund investment market and exchange of information among members, of which there are currently 41 asset management firms in its ranks.
KOFIA was established on Feb. 4, 2009 through the implementation of the Financial Services and Capital Markets Act (FSCMA). Since then it has played a pivotal role in the development of the capital market and the financial investment industry in Korea, and it is now ushering in a new era.
KOFIA strives to contribute to the long-term development and enhanced competitiveness of the Korean financial investment industry, which is the fundamental purpose of the organization.
To this end, the organization listens to the voices of its members and serves as a supporter, helping members achieve further growth and development.
KOFIA also advocates the views of market participants to financial policymakers, and works in cooperation with the industry to devise advanced policies that reflect their opinions.
KOFIA is committed to further refining the Korean financial and investment industry with a focus on mutual trust, and to finding constructive alternatives through active members.
KOFIA is the sole self-regulatory organization (SRO) of the Korean financial industry. KOFIA approaches self-regulation as a service that should be responsive, flexible, and market-friendly, rather than rigid and heavily supervised. To ensure its ability to effectively conduct its role and function as an SRO, KOFIA maintains the Self-Regulation Committee (SRC). The SRC is responsible for KOFIA’s overall self-regulation activities, such as making decisions for the establishment and revision of regulations, and applying penalties to members and executives. The committee is headed by the standing SRC chairman. KSDA, KOFIA’s predecessor, successfully launched the KOSDAQ index in 1996 and turned it into one of the most successful new markets in the world. KOSDAQ, the Korean version of NASDAQ, was successfully operated by the association until it merged with the Korea Exchange (KRX) in 2005.
Building on those successes, KOFIA established FreeBoard and operates the OTC Bond Market.
KOFIA plays an important role in ensuring the transparency and efficiency of the OTC fixed income market by collecting and disseminating vital trading data. KOFIA runs the Bond Quotation System, which displays bid and ask quotations in real time to aid bond traders in their transactions. KOFIA also provides many other types of bond-related data. All bond transactions must be reported to KOFIA within 15 minutes of the transaction. KOFIA posts the daily yields of eight types of bonds and 51 closing yields. Among them, the three-year and five-year treasury bond yields are the benchmark indicators of the Korean financial market.
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