Korea's Financial Investment Association raises minimum deposit for leveraged ETFs

The Financial Investment Association (FIA) and CEOs of ten major Korean securities firms held an emergency meeting in Seoul to introduce self‑regulatory measures for single‑stock leveraged exchange‑traded funds (ETFs). Participants agreed to increase the basic cash deposit required to trade these products from the current 10 million won, aiming to curb excessive retail leverage. They also pledged to expand pre‑investment education, enhance risk warnings tailored to investors’ age and asset levels, and disperse the timing of rebalancing trades to reduce market impact. The steps respond to heightened volatility in the KOSPI index and growing concerns over investor losses linked to leveraged ETFs. The FIA will continue monitoring trading patterns and cooperate with any further government actions.