Chairperson Kim Byeong-hwan visited New York, USA, where he met with Stephen Schwarzman, the chairperson of Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm. Schwarzman is known on Wall Street as the 'economic advisor' to U.S. President Donald Trump. Chairperson Kim explained Korea's efforts to advance its financial market, and Schwarzman responded that he is positively considering entering the Korean market.
The Financial Services Commission stated on the 23rd that Chairperson Kim met with Chairperson Schwarzman in New York the previous day.
Chairperson Kim and the Korean government explained that they have been consistently and coherently promoting the improvement of access to the foreign exchange and capital markets, the resumption of short selling, and value enhancement, and requested interest and support for the Korean financial market. Chairperson Kim also noted that starting this month, they have begun accepting applications for fund brokerage licenses to attract global asset management firms to Korea. Schwarzman responded that he is positively considering Blackstone's entry into the Korean market.
Chairperson Kim then met with senior executives from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and requested that they justly evaluate the Korean government's policy efforts to enhance foreign investors' access to Korea's capital and foreign exchange markets during the upcoming MSCI review for inclusion in the developed markets index.
On the 21st, Chairperson Kim visited the American branch of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute in Boston, where he received explanations about the Boston bio-cluster and the current status of Korean biotech companies entering the U.S. market.
Chairperson Kim held a meeting with the venture capital (VC) industry in the bio-cluster and engaged in discussions with domestic VC investors about whether Korea has areas to benchmark for revitalizing the weakened bio-ecosystem. Investors noted that the direct participation of major global pharmaceutical companies in actively supplying long-term venture capital plays a crucial role in maintaining the ecosystem. They also stated that the public sector's funding should serve as a catalyst.
Chairperson Kim also visited Aveo Oncology, acquired by LG CHEM, to examine examples of domestic corporations entering Boston. Aveo is a cancer drug specialist with FDA-approved oncology treatments. Chairperson Kim stated, 'We will establish policies to revitalize venture investments, including expanding public sector capital that can endure for a long time through advanced strategic industry funds and strengthening the infrastructure for providing investment information to support private investment capabilities.'