South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) published its ongoing investigation into global investment banks’ iillegal short sales. The FSS has so far found that nine global banks illegally shorted 164 stocks with transactions totaling KRW211.2 billion ($1.6mn). The FSS has been probing 14 global banks that have conducted short sales trades most frequently in Korea.
The FSS will collaborate with foreign financial regulators, including the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, for its effective investigation on the short sales.
The Financial Supervisory Service established the Short-selling Special Investigation Office in a bid to eradicate illegal short sales in November, 2023. “The FSS has since thoroughly monitored unfair and illegal practices and concentrated our capacity on the investigation,” the regulator wrote in a statement.