Chris Taylor, the New York Stock Exchange's global head of listings and services, poses during an interview with The Korea Times at the Park Hyatt Seoul hotel in the city's Gangnam District, Nov. 7. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
'Seoul has all of the prerequisites to be global financial hub'
By Yi Whan-woo
Regulators should consider the unintended consequences of new regulations on the marketplace, a senior executive of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) said shortly after a short selling ban was reinstated in Korea last week in the name of cracking down on illegal market practices by global investment banks.
“I don’t want to comment if it's a good or bad policy, but I would just comment that they should certainly review the impact of that decision on the marketplace,” Chris Taylor, the NYSE’s global head of listings and services, told The Korea Times during an interview in Seoul, Nov. 7, a day after the ban took effect through June 2024.
Announced by the Financial Services Commission, the ban's timing was controversial, with some market observers arguing it was politically motivated ahead of the general election in April 2024.
Such a ban was imposed three previous times in Korea to cushion external shocks on the stock market – the global financial crisis in 2008, the European sovereign debt crisis in 2011 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 – whereas the market was not particularly taking the brunt of shocks from outside this year.
“You know short selling bans usually take place during financial crises and that clearly isn’t the case right now,” Taylor said. “And if there are unintended consequences they should be aware of that.”
The interview took place after he came to Korea and Japan on a four-day trip through Nov. 9, as a routine part of his job of meeting and interacting with companies that are listed on the NYSE.
Serving in his job since 2017, Taylor apparently has had years witnessing the competitiveness of the finance and business districts in different cities compared to the international level.
Concerning Korea, he has traveled here twice this year, making his previous trip in July, and plans to come back next year.
Asked about the progress in the city’s bid to become a global financial hub, he said, “It has all of the prerequisites to be a global financial center.”
He added, “It is obviously very modern, very open, very global, and those things bode well for Seoul to be a challenger as a (global) financial capital.”
He had his latest meeting with Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in September when Oh was in New York City during the High-Level Week of the U.N. General Assembly.
The mayor and his team, “educated us on the power of Seoul and what an amazing, vibrant, technologically advanced city Seoul is,” according to Taylor.
“He is very well informed on the benefits of this city, so it’s hard for me to provide advice to Mayor Oh on Seoul,” Taylor said. “The economic might of Korea is quite impressive relative to its size.”
He added that he is looking forward to the continued growth of Korean companies.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Nov. 2. AFP-Yonhap
The NYSE, the world’s largest stock exchange, has more than 2,400 firms listed from 47 countries.
About 500 of the total listed companies are from outside the U.S. They include 10 from Korea – POSCO, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), SK Telecom, KT, KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, LG Display, Gravity and Coupang.
While he did not give details on what he discussed with the listed Korean companies, he explained that the focus of the trip was “to educate our companies on the NYSE and for me to get educated on what our companies are concerned about and what their businesses are concerned with.”
He assessed that Korea, in proportion to its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, is “well represented” in terms of the number of its NYSE-listed companies.
On the frequency of initial public offerings (IPOs), the country certainly has been less active over time considering none occurred after Coupang was listed in March 2021. All other nine were listed between 1994 and 2005.
Taylor still assessed that Korea, “with its vibrant economy, has companies that are always staying close to the market in case someone wants to access capital in the U.S.”
With regard to prospective industries for IPOs, he picked technology and consumer goods companies, such as Birkenstock from Germany, which became the latest company to join the NYSE.
Before joining the NYSE, Taylor led the global investor relations business at Ipreo, a U.S. market intelligence and data firm, for nearly 10 years.
