SEOUL, Jan 21 Reuters South Korea will tighten regulations on stock market listings to improve the quality and competitiveness, the financial regulator said on Tuesday, in the latest move by authorities aimed at making the domestic stock market more attractive to investors.

The Financial Services Commission said in a statement that while the number of listed companies and market capitalisation had increased on the market the quality had fallen short.

When it comes to qualitative aspects of corporate value and growth potential, our stock market growth has been assessed to be comparably weak, the commission said.

In February 2024, the government announced capital market reforms under the Corporate Valueup Programme, mirroring Japan39;s efforts that brought the Nikkei to an alltime high, to resolve the socalled Korea Discount, a tendency for the benchmark KOSPI39;s undervaluation due to low dividend payouts and opaque corporate governance structures.

However, the South Korean push, which was one of the signature policy drives of now impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, has fallen short of market expectations, with the KOSPI dropping nearly 10 in 2024 to rank the worst performer among major Asian markets.

In the statement, the Commission said the initial public offering IPO market should be more driven by corporate valuebased investment decisions rather than shortterm profit considerations.

To achieve that, the Commission said it would introduce preferential treatments…