The Korea Exchange announced its policy to mandate KOSDAQ-listed companies to hold at least one investor relations (IR) event per year.
Korea Exchange Chairman Jeong Eun-bo stated on the 13th at the "Capital Market Policy Roundtable" held at the Seoul Yeouido Korea Exchange, presided over by President Lee Jae-myung, "We are considering a plan to change the listing maintenance requirements so that companies must conduct IR at least once a year unconditionally while their listing is maintained."
This aims to expand the current obligation to hold one IR event per year, which applies for two years after KOSDAQ listing, to the entire period of listing maintenance.
When President Lee asked, "It seems it should have been done that way naturally. When will you change it?" Chairman Jeong replied, "We will change it. We are actively considering it."
Chairman Jeong's remarks on this day came immediately after a point raised by Lee Geon-jae, Head of the KOSDAQ Research Center at IBK Investment & Securities, that the frequency of IR events for domestic listed companies is low compared to the United States.
The center head stated, "There are many companies that do not receive visit requests or do not conduct IR, making it difficult to prepare KOSDAQ market reports," and revealed, "As a result of a comprehensive survey of disclosure records, the proportion of listed companies that disclosed holding IR events last year was about 33% for KOSPI and 26% for KOSDAQ, while in the United States it was 80%."
He added, "For market trust to be built, companies must accumulate and repeat communication with investors at least once every three months, explaining 'why we reported such results, what reasons led to these outcomes, and how we will lead the company with this strategy going forward.'"
President Lee stated, "It is questionable whether (listed companies) that do not conduct IR, accounting for only 20-30%, have the qualification to remain in the market. I did not know it was to that extent at first," and added, "In the end, isn't it the same as just listing to gain profits and then leaving things alone, thinking there is no need to publicize the company afterwards?"
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