Mirae Asset, Korea Investment picked as 1st IMA operators

Mirae Asset Center 1 in Seoul / Korea Times file

The country's financial regulator on Wednesday granted licenses to Mirae Asset Securities and Korea Investment & Securities to operate so-called investment management accounts (IMAs), opening the door for local brokerages to expand their business portfolio and size up their assets.

The IMA scheme, first floated in 2017, can give more room for brokerages to increase assets under management and raise more funds under eased rules.

Under related regulations, IMA operators can raise funding of up to 300 percent of their capital base by selling commercial papers.

As of the third quarter, Korea Investment & Securities had equity capital of 12 trillion won ($8.22 billion), and its outstanding issuance of commercial papers had stood at 18.7 trillion won.

Mirae Asset had a capital base of 10.3 trillion won and 8.3 trillion won in outstanding commercial papers.

With the regulatory approval, Mirae and Korea Investment can additionally raise some 35 trillion won for investments.

IMA-operating brokerages are also required to invest at least 25 percent of IMA deposits and money raised via commercial paper issuance in promising high-tech sectors, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

The designation of IMA operators came as financial authorities have been pushing to foster homegrown, mega-sized investment banks (IBs) modeled after Goldman Sachs.

The move also came as the Lee Jae Myung government has been preaching for productive finance, calling for financial companies to play a greater role in boosting funding to high-tech, risky but promising sectors.