AMC

 stands for Asset Management Company, the specialized fund managers permitted after the September 1998 deregulation in accordance with the SICA.
   
AMBA

stands for Indirect Investment Asset Management Business Act (hereinafter referred to as the ˇ°Actˇ±), effective from 2004. Previously, each type of collective investment scheme had been regulated by the applicable act, for example, contractual-type funds had been regulated by the Securities Investment Trust Business Act, corporate-type funds by the Securities Investment Company Act, unspecified money trusts by the Trust Business Act, and variable insurance products by the Insurance Business Act. Such regulation by financial institution has been blamed for limiting investor protection and financial innovation as it could not deal with the new investment objects or new financial products that were evolving along with the development of the financial industry. In addition, it led to an imbalance in regulations between different financial institutions.

The Act, which is based on the Securities Investment Trust Business Act, enables all asset management activities to be regulated at an equivalent level by unifying all asset management-related regulations. Accordingly this makes it possible to have regulation in accordance with function.

   
FSC stands for the Financial Supervisory Commission, which took over the across-the-board administrative and supervisory function as well as approval and permission of new business from the MOFE in April 1998.
   
FSS refers to the Financial Supervisory Service, a special corporation with no capital that functions as the implementation body of the FSC and SFC (Securities and Futures Commission) . The FSS's major function involves the supervision, examination, and enforcement of business activities of regulated financial institutions as well as matters delegated by the FSC and the SFC.
   
ITC stands for Investment Trust Company, which was created before the 1996 deregulation and used to manage and distribute funds through its own branch offices. All the ITCs were transformed into securities firms by the end of June 2000 and then spun off ITMCs as its subsidiaries.
   
IMTC stands for Investment Trust Management Company, which was created after the 1996 deregulation and has no direct distribution channels.
   
KRX

stands for t he Korea Exchange (KRX), established under Korea Stock & Futures Exchange Act for the purpose of cost reduction and improvement in investor efficiency. KRX was created through the integration of the three existing spot & futures exchanges and Kosdaq Committee, a sub-organization of Korea Stock Dealers Association. The merged exchange is transforming itself from a mere local exchange to an important part of the world's financial markets. KRX is attracting a special attention in the world financial market given that it is the merged exchange of spot and futures markets with significant amount of trading volume.

KRX includes

  • Stock Market Division deals with Stock listings and transactions, provides market data and modifies related rules and regulations or develops new products if necessary.
  • Kosdaq Market Division engages in fund-raising for high value-added industries, and its main responsibilities are similar to those of Stock Market Division.
  • Futures Market Division is in charge of eliminating pricing variables to the spot market. Diverse option products such as Interest futures, Currency Futures, Stock-related Futures and other general futures are traded through the division.
   
KSDA stands for the Korea Securities Dealers Association.
   
KOSDAQ stands for Korea Securities Dealers Association Automated Quotation, a Korean version of NASDAQ in function. It is designed to meet the needs of investors and emerging enterprises, small and medium-sized companies and venture business with less stringent requirements for listing compared to those of the KSE.
   
MOFE refers to the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Korea, which takes overall charge of the financial industry with regard to policy making and the drawing-up and amendment of laws.
   
SICA stands for the Securities Investment Companies Act enacted in September 1998.
   
SIC

stands for Securities Investment Company, a financial product that is a corporate-style collective investment vehicle.

   
SITBA

stands for the Securities Investment Trust Business Act, which was enacted on 4 August 1969 to introduce the securities investment trust scheme, and a comprehensive amendment on 29 December 1995. This legislation regulates the establishment and operations of the trust and trustee companies as well as overall operation and business of contractual-type investment trusts.