[서울신문] Review of short selling and personal investment limit before resuming in March

Considering the big risk for individual financial authorities
Differential investment limits after establishing qualification requirements

Financial authorities are considering imposing limits on short selling investments to individuals ahead of the resumption of short selling in March.

According to the financial investment industry on the 10th, the Financial Services Commission is considering a method of differentially granting investment limits according to the qualification requirements for individual investors who can sell short. Short selling is a method in which stocks that are expected to fall down are sold by borrowing from a securities company, and when the stock price actually goes down, they are bought again at a cheaper price and paid off.

The reason why financial authorities are to place short selling qualifications on individual investors is because there is a high risk (risk) for individuals to invest in short selling.

Foreigners and institutions have a high proportion of short selling, but individuals are criticized for being a’tilted playground’ due to their lack of access. Currently, private equity investment is limited to eligible investors (professional investors and general investors with certain requirements), and crowdfunding investment is also limited to general investors (maximum investment limit of 10 million won), qualified investors (20 million won), and professional investors (no limit). The difference is on the back.

The financial authorities are trying to come up with such supplementary measures on the premise of resuming short selling in March, but demands continue to postpone the ban on short selling among individual investors.

On the Blue House National Petition Bulletin, “I petition for the permanent ban on short selling”, and about 45,000 people agreed. In the political world, there are claims to continue the ban on short selling. In addition, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Yong-jin recently asked the Financial Services Commission to reconsider the resumption of short selling.

Reporter Jinah Kim [email protected]

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