[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Facing Criticism of Rushed Leveraged ETF Review... Lee Chanjin: "We Reviewed It Rigorously"

Lee Chan-jin, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, rebutted criticism that the listing review for single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was rushed, saying it had been conducted rigorously.

Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Chanjin answers lawmakers' questions during a parliamentary audit of the Financial Supervisory Service and other agencies at the National Assembly on Oct. 19, 2026. Photo by Yoon Dongju

At a comprehensive audit of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service by the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on Oct. 22, Lee said, "The law sets the review period at 15 days. It is true that, when reviewing securities registration statements, we rigorously reviewed each filing for 15 days, examining matters related to the product structure and risks, and accepted them once the 15-day period had elapsed."

Lee rejected the claim that the leveraged ETFs had been reviewed hastily. "Normally, applications come to us after a preliminary listing review and are then submitted through securities registration statements. In this case, however, some came directly to us instead, which meant we handled them more quickly," he explained.

At a National Assembly Political Affairs Committee audit of the Financial Supervisory Service on Oct. 19, Lee had said the review was expedited to meet the Financial Services Commission's schedule. This sparked controversy over whether the leveraged ETFs had been reviewed hastily.

On Oct. 22, when Rep. Park Seong-hoon of the People Power Party asked, "You said you expedited the review for the listing of single-stock leveraged ETFs because of the Financial Services Commission's schedule. Who specifically asked you to shorten the review period to 29 days?" Lee replied, "I think there has been a misunderstanding. I made that remark while answering a question about the parallel review process in connection with the launch timeline."

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