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| KAMCO Chairman Moon Chang-yong |
By Park Jae-hyuk
The Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) will capitalize on the International Public Asset Management Company Forum (IPAF) conference in Seoul today to "ignite a Korean wave" in the financial sector, according to the state-run institution's head, Wednesday.
Along with the Asia Development Bank (ADB), KAMCO will host the global event that is focusing on the development of Asia's non-performing loan (NPL) market by harnessing IPAF.
KAMCO Chairman Moon Chang-yong told The Korea Times that his company will play a leading role in regional cooperation for financial stability, passing on its knowhow of overcoming the financial crisis and managing NPLs to IPAF members.
"Most governments in Asian nations are still facing difficulties in managing NPLs effectively, due to inadequate regulations and systems," he said. "Against this backdrop, they will be able to get help from our experience of acquisition and disposal of NPLs, as well as Korean investors making inroads into overseas NPL markets."
During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, KAMCO stabilized the financial market as it bought NPLs worth 111.6 trillion won ($93.4 billion) for 39.2 trillion won from domestic financial firms. It sold those NPLs for 48.1 trillion won, achieving the world's highest recovery rate.
According to the chairman, Harvard Business School has conducted a case study of KAMCO's success, which was also introduced as a best practice during a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 in London in 2009.
In addition, Vietnam established the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) in 2013, after forming a lasting partnership with KAMCO. The Southeast Asian country has also revised its regulations since 2017, so as to boost the country's NPL transactions.
The chairman said Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Thailand and China are also among countries that have learned from KAMCO.
"The Korean financial wave has enough potential to grow into the next BTS and another Korean wave," he said. "Given that the Korean wave is spreading across the world, this is the best moment to strengthen the competitiveness of the Korean financial wave, which has just begun sprouting."
The fifth IPAF conference this year will be attended by officials of public asset management companies (AMCs) from Bangladesh, Mongolia, Indonesia and Zimbabwe, which have suffered setbacks in dealing with financial restructuring and bad loans.
In order to resolve their problems, KAMCO plans to propose the establishment of a cross-border online NPL transaction platform.
"International NPL trading through an online platform will be available, considering the successful case in Europe and large trade volume on online bidding platforms run by each country's public AMC," Moon said.
"Amid the growing uncertainties caused by the recent Korea-Japan conflict, the U.S-China trade war and Hong Kong protests, we expect the summit and international conference this year will be a great opportunity to enhance cooperation among IPAF members and discuss sustainable economic growth of Asian nations."
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