Hàn Quốc xem xét các quyền hạn khẩn cấp để quản lý các quỹ ETF đòn bẩy trong bối cảnh biến động thị trường

The ME News report states that on August 2 (UTC+8), South Korea’s financial regulators are advancing revisions to the Capital Markets Act, aiming to grant regulatory authorities “emergency intervention powers” to directly implement market-stabilizing measures during periods of severe stock market volatility. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has already initiated legal revision efforts in collaboration with the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), focusing particularly on single-stock leveraged ETF products that were deemed to have amplified volatility during recent market crashes. Proposed regulatory measures include adjusting leverage ratios and imposing investment caps. Currently, certain single-stock leveraged ETFs in South Korea employ up to 2x leverage. Regulators are discussing whether to permit temporary reductions in leverage ratios during periods of abnormal market fluctuations, in order to mitigate risks arising from concentrated trading activity. This proposal draws inspiration from recent regulatory actions in Hong Kong, where the Securities and Futures Commission previously allowed institutions meeting asset management capacity, risk control standards, and disclosure requirements to adjust the leverage multiples of listed leveraged and inverse products, thereby creating flexibility for dynamic market oversight. South Korean regulators argue that under the current system, matters involving changes in return structures may require approval from fund holder meetings, making it difficult to respond swiftly under extreme market conditions. Therefore, they plan to establish an emergency regulatory mechanism that can be activated without complex procedures. Additionally, South Korean financial regulators are considering: imposing individual investment limits on single-stock leveraged ETFs, capping investment quotas at approximately 20% to prevent excessive capital concentration, and introducing actual trading simulation systems to enhance investor understanding of leverage product risks. The regulators stated that raising the initial margin requirement primarily raises the investment threshold, while investment limits effectively set an “upper bound” on capital inflow—both measures will form a complementary risk control framework. Previously, South Korea raised the minimum margin requirement for single-stock leveraged ETF investors from KRW 10 million to KRW 30 million starting July 31. Data shows that on the first day of the new rule’s implementation, trading volume for the 16 related leveraged ETFs totaled approximately KRW 3 trillion—only about one-quarter of the KRW 12.4 trillion traded on the previous trading day and roughly 80% lower than the KRW 15 trillion level on July 29. (Source: ODAILY)