9,200 Accounts Opened Per Day Right After Launch... The Reason Behind the Surge in 'RIA'

92,000 RIA Accounts Opened in Just 10 Days
Expectations Rise for Improvement in Foreign Exchange Supply and Demand

Koo Yoon-chul, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, assessed the recently launched Return-to-the-Domestic Market Account (RIA), saying, "It is off to a meaningful start, with around 92,000 accounts opened within just over 10 days since its launch."

On April 3, Deputy Prime Minister Koo visited NH Investment & Securities in Yeouido, Seoul to commemorate the launch of the RIA and made these remarks. The visit was organized to review the progress following the RIA’s introduction and to gather feedback from the field.

RIA is a special dedicated account launched with the purpose of stabilizing exchange rates and revitalizing the domestic capital market. After depositing and selling overseas stocks in the RIA account, if reinvested in Korean won or domestic stocks and maintained for more than one year, investors can receive overseas stock capital gains tax deduction benefits. Getty Images

RIA is a special dedicated account launched with the aim of stabilizing exchange rates and revitalizing the domestic capital market. After depositing and selling overseas stocks in the RIA account, if the proceeds are reinvested in Korean won or domestic stocks and maintained for more than one year, investors can benefit from a capital gains tax deduction on overseas stocks.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo first listened to a detailed explanation at the branch counter regarding the RIA subscription process, product features, and tax-saving advantages, closely observing the consulting process. In a subsequent meeting with executives from the Korea Financial Investment Association and NH Investment & Securities, he reviewed the status of account subscriptions and broadly exchanged views on investor demand and market response as experienced on the ground.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo urged, "Please play an active role in promoting and providing information about the product at financial institutions so that the system can be established quickly and lead to a tangible increase in domestic capital inflows."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Koo Yoon-chul is speaking at the full meeting of the Planning and Finance Committee held at the National Assembly on the 2nd. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Participants at the meeting noted that despite being in its early stages, the RIA is attracting considerable market interest, and they expressed expectations that demand for returning overseas investors will gradually increase as financial market volatility subsides.

Deputy Prime Minister Koo explained that the trade surplus for the first quarter reached a record high of 49.8 billion dollars, and that, starting from the end of March, the net purchase of Korean government bonds by foreigners has expanded significantly (about 3.24 billion dollars from March 30 to April 2) due to inflows of World Government Bond Index (WGBI) funds.

He further stated, "Not only has the RIA been launched, but the trend of increased dividends from overseas subsidiaries is also becoming more apparent. As the three-part foreign exchange stabilization tax package is successfully established and the National Pension New Framework is announced in April, the foreign exchange supply-demand situation will show marked improvement."

Given the significant increase in uncertainty caused by the Middle East war, the government is maintaining heightened vigilance and closely monitoring volatility in the foreign exchange and financial markets. Deputy Prime Minister Koo emphasized, "We will take bold and decisive action against market-disruptive or speculative activities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.