<Anchor>

Reporter Kwon Ae-ri's friendly economy. Reporter Kwon, the stock market literally plunged in March, and at that time, a prescription was issued to ban short selling. However, it is possible to extend this, I heard a story like this. Of course, there are those who are interested, of course, who know, but some do not know, so let me first explain the concept of'short sale'.

<Reporter>

Yes, yesterday (the 20th) was a day with a lot of big things, but those who are interested in the stock market will be glistening at this event yesterday afternoon.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki attended the National Assembly yesterday and said that he thought it would be desirable to extend the ban on short selling, considering the current economic situation.

I added that it was not yet coordinated between government departments, but on the 15th of next month, it is not long before the temporary ban on short selling will expire.

At that point, the likelihood that the Deputy Prime Minister would extend it to what was mentioned in the National Assembly was even greater. What the hell is short selling so hot? There are many strangers, so let's put it very briefly.

In short, it is an investment technique where you make money by walking on the side where the stock price falls. For example, there is one item here and it is 10,000 won. But I think this will fall in the future.

Then, the stock is borrowed and sold at the current value of 10,000 won. Later, actually, if this falls to around 5,000 won as I expected, then that's what I'm buying.

Then, when this stock was sold at 10,000 won, 10,000 won came to me, and when this stock reached 5,000 won, if I bought and paid off the borrowed, I will have 5,000 won. This is how you make money. Of course, if this stock goes up because of a wrong prediction, I could lose money.

<Anchor>

We ant investors and individual investors really hate this. Why is that?

<Reporter>

Yes, you hate it very much. In Korea, short selling is reserved for foreigners and institutional investors. Individual investors have less than 1% of participation in short selling. In fact, even individuals can only do it with a big hand.

Short selling is an investment technique in which stocks are borrowed and sold. Foreigners and institutions in our stock market have so many transactions that they have high credit and can borrow stocks relatively easily.

But the individual is absolutely at a disadvantage here. Therefore, whenever there is a downside factor in the stock market, the bearish market becomes more intense due to the institutions and foreigners that bet more strongly on the downturn, and individuals cannot participate in short selling and have no power to counter it, so that individual losses increase. is. Our stock market was also regarded as an undervalued factor.

In particular, foreign investors were the main force in short selling, and there were a lot of complaints that our stock market was being pulled here.

Eventually, short selling was partially regulated, but from mid-March, all stocks began to be banned with a six-month deadline.

But the recent Korean stock market is also attracted by individual investors, so-called'Donghak ants'. This makes me think more and more, "The short selling was also bad."

So, there was a lot of interest in whether the temporary ban would be resumed after the 15th of the following month, when the expiration of the temporary ban expires.

<Anchor> It

seems like a system that seems unfair in a way that individual investors can't do well, so there are quite a few people who say it would be nice to get rid of it at all.

<Reporter>

Right. But in fact, that's not realistic. Short selling has its own market function. It is a common investment technique worldwide.

Large stock markets such as the United States, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom have never restricted short selling even during the March crash, and countries such as France and Italy in Europe have temporarily limited them and are now reopening.

As for us alone, there will be no short selling at all. If this happens, the Korean stock market becomes difficult to recognize globally. Foreign investment itself may leave a lot. That won't be so good for us in the long run.

However, as I said, since individual investors are clearly structurally disadvantageous, there is a story about extending the ban for the time being and making it a time to modify the system.

In the neighboring country, Japan alone, individuals account for 25% of short selling. At this level, both individuals and organizations work together.

Japan has a financial institution that provides a service that lends stocks to individuals as well as having much lower credit than institutions, allowing individuals to sell short.

Whether to supplement in this way or how to do it, let's take it as a time to open up and change structures that are unfavorable to individuals.

<Anchor>

Yes, anyway, whether it is an individual or an institution, this short selling system is advantageous.