The Korea Exchange (KRX), South Korea's bourse operator, said Tuesday it will
forge stronger ties with emerging markets this year and export its operating
systems to modernize their stock market systems.
"We will continue to
pursue overseas expansion, which will help the main bourse increase its presence
in the global market," KRX Chairman Kim Bong-soo said in a meeting with
reporters.
Kim said the move also comes as the Tokyo Stock Exchange,
the world's fourth-largest bourse operator, merged with the Osaka Securities
Exchange as of January to move one notch up and became a bigger rival to the
KRX.
The KRX ranks 15th among global peers as of November 2012 in
terms of combined market capitalization of firms listed on its stock
markets.
"The KRX is having working-level discussions with
counterparts in Belarus and Azerbaijan to export stock market operating systems,
and has already signed memorandums of understandings with them," said Ahn
Sang-hwan, a KRX official.
"We are also setting sight on African
countries like Morocco, and South American countries such as Peru," Ahn said.
"We are seeking opportunities in the Mideast, too."
The bourse
operator has previously made investments in the form of owning stakes when it
clinched deals with Laos and Cambodia in 2009 to export its stock market
operating system.
The Lao Securities Exchange was launched in January
2011, while the Cambodia Securities Exchange began to operate in April last
year.
Meanwhile, the KRX added it will also make efforts to open the
Korea New Exchange (KONEX) within this year to better support smaller firms in
raising capital and selling shares.
While the country's main bourse
operator will continue to operate the benchmark KOSPI and the tech-heavy KOSDAQ
market, the KONEX will also serve to foster growth of small and mid-sized
companies, the KRX said.