Chairman Park Jong-soo of the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) said in his inaugural speech he will do everything possible to expand investments by organizations and popularize a long-term investment culture in Korea.

During the inaugural ceremony held at the association's office in Yeouido, Seoul, on Feb. 6, the new chairman, who succeeded former chairman Hwang Kun-ho, said expanding the investment market will be a core strategy for the association and KOFIA will also work for balanced development of the financial industry by growing together. KOFIA should draw up a long-term strategy to achieve their targets, including the deregulation of the various financial business sectors.

The new KOFIA head also said he will see that various strategies are developed to ensure the growth of the market and financial investment firms by revitalizing R&D activities and building a network of outside financial experts.

Park also stressed centering the operation of KOFIA around its member firms as he urged during the election for the KFIA chairman. "The most important thing that KOFIA can do is to give support to its member firms by catching exactly what they need to be an organization for its members," Park said.

He also unveiled the appointment of four new headquarters managers including Kim Dong-chul for the Autonomous Regulation Service Headquarters, formerly the chief of the Asset Management Service of the Financial Services Commission; Park Byung-joo to head the Securities Service Hea-dquarters, formerly the Autonomous Regulation Service Headquarters chief; Jun Sang-hoon as manager of the Management Strategy Headquarters; and Choi Bong-hwan as the manager of the newly established Overall Member Service Headquarters, formerly the manager of the Management Strategy Headquarters.

The new chairman trimmed the size of the headquarters from seven to five in the personnel shake-up and reorganization, which he said was done to lead the deve-lopment of the financial investment industry as well as the member firms, and was thoroughly based on individual talent, which had to be good enough to take over additional duties if needed.

KOFIA is scheduled to hold its general conference to recommend candidates for permanent vice chairman and the Auto-nomous Regulation Service Committee Chairman, which include a former vice chairman of the Financial Services Comm-ission and a former official of the Strategy and Finance Ministry.

In his welcome statement on the KOFIA website, the new chairman said, "I am very honored to be running an organization that plays a huge role in the financial investment services industry. At KOFIA, we work to expand the financial investment services industry in a profitable and sustainable manner by maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient business practices among members and protecting investors.

"Over the past years, we have worked hard to strengthen the global compe-titiveness of the financial investment services industry, expand the customer base of the capital market, and establish a self-regulatory system focused on enhanced risk management and investor protection." 

"KOFIA will continue to play a leading role in the advancement of the Korean capital market by educating better professionals and providing the best services, while also interacting with our investors to establish a healthy investment atmosphere. "These efforts are just part of what we do each day to advance our market and the industry." nw