Joseph Ho, managing director and head of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the Asia-Pacific region at Credit Suisse, said despite a rush of leverage and inverse ETFs, it is positive for the Korean ETF market to successfully attract investors with a rise in fluidity, but market access needs to be upgraded. 

Asset management officials in charge of global ETFs told the 2012 Global ETF Conference Seoul more efforts should be made to raise market access and diversify future markets. 

The Korea Stock Exchange organized the conference at the Westin Joseon Hotel in downtown Seoul from Oct. 22-23 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Korean ETF market.

Ho noted that Hong Kong is envious of the Korean ETF market, saying that Korea and Japan are the countries in Asia where inverse and leverage ETFs have turned out to be successful, but they are not allowed to be listed in Singapore and Hong Kong. He added that institutional investors’aggressive participation in the Korean ETF market is essential for ensuring liquidity and stability. 

He was one of the 14 panelists participating in the international conference. The speakers who gave lectures were Hartmut Graf, CEO of Stoxx; Marco Montanari, managing director of ETFs in Asia at Deutsche Bank; Bae Jae-kyu, managing director for fixed income at Samsung Asset Management; and Reid Steadman, global head of ETF Licensing at S&P Dow Jones.

Mark Valadao, head of ETFs & Index Funds at MSCI, said the Korean ETF market is taking root successfully, and it should focus on expanding market access. 

He said Korean investors tend to be aggressive and active in drawing investment portfolios and in this regard, the most important thing is market access. The problem lies in the access of the Korean currency since investors wait until the opening of the Korean currency market, which is not open around the clock.  

Pension funds tend to invest in emerging markets in an era of low growth, and the positive sign is apparent in Korea. 

The conference, supported by Korean asset management firms, brought together decision-makers from Korean and international regulatory authorities and exchanges as well as ETF experts in Korea and abroad to share the global trends of advanced foreign ETF markets and discuss the direction of the development of the Korean market.