Mirae Asset granted short-term financing, obtaining mega IB status

South Korea’s industry leader Mirae Asset Securities Co. has finally won the license to issue short-term financing bills, the exclusive business to an investment bank of a certain scale, four years after it has applied for the right.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced Wednesday that it has granted final approval to Mirae Asset Securities for the right to issue short-term promissory notes dated maximum one year.

A brokerage firm is required to have at least 30 billion won ($26.56 million) in equity capital to acquire the license.

With the approval, Mirae Asset will become a mega investment bank that can manage bigger funds than a regular securities firm. The company will be able to issue promissory notes up to 200 percent of its capital equity, or 18.2 trillion won ($16.11 billion).

Mirae Asset first applied for the license in July 2017 but the process has been delayed for nearly four years as Mirae Asset Group was mired in antitrust probe for funneling work to its holding entity through intra-group trading. The financial authority resumed examination after the country’s antitrust watchdog Fair Trade Commission decided not to pursue a prosecutorial probe and instead imposed a fine of 4.39 billion won on the group.

So far, three local securities firm—Korea Investment & Securities, NH Investment & Securities and KB Securities—have been granted license to run short-term financing business.

[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]