[2026 Audit] "Single-Stock Leverage: No Meeting Minutes, No Clear Proposer"

The controversy surrounding the introduction process of single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is growing. Uncertainty remains over who first proposed this product, and there are no related meeting minutes.

According to data submitted by Assemblyman Kim Jaeseop of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, and received from the Presidential Secretariat, it was confirmed that no minutes were taken at the closed-door meeting held by the Office of the President on January 13, 2026.

The Presidential Secretariat explained, "The meeting on January 13 was held privately to freely gather a variety of opinions from industry and on-site participants regarding the domestic capital market," and responded that "it is difficult to disclose the list of attendees." They further stated, "Because the meeting was closed to the public, no minutes were recorded, which makes it difficult to submit related materials."

The entity who proposed the single-stock leveraged ETF could not be identified even in materials submitted by relevant agencies. The materials submitted by Korea Capital Market Institute, Korea Exchange, and Korea Securities Depository contained no reference to such a proposal, and the executives who attended also responded that they did not make the proposal themselves. In the advance opinion documents submitted by the five private financial companies that were invited at the request of the Blue House, there was no indication of a demand for introducing the product.

After the Blue House meeting, financial authorities proceeded with institutional improvements, leading to the listing of single-stock leveraged ETFs based on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as underlying assets. Individual investors suffered losses amounting to trillions of won.

Assemblyman Kim pointed out, "Even though individual investors incurred losses of several trillion won due to the single-stock leveraged products, not a single page of meeting minutes remains from the Blue House-led meeting, and the participating institutions all claim they did not suggest introducing the product. Although the Financial Services Commission made the final decision, it is still completely unclear who first proposed it, what discussions were held, and whether any risk assessment was conducted in reaching the decision."

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