Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

S. Korean inserts 2 trillion won into brokerages, asset managers

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-24 20:01

SEOUL -- The Bank of Korea said Friday it provided 2 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) to cash-strapped local securities houses and asset managers through repurchase agreement deals.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) said it bought 28-day repurchase agreement deals from Korea Securities Finance Corp., an agency that provides financing to securities-related institutions.

Related readings:  Most Asian markets advance; SKorea up on bank plan  Japan central bank pumps emergency money for 19th day  China's central bank cuts reserve requirement ratio, interest rates

Korea Securities Finance Corp in turn released the money to securities houses and asset managers suffering from cash crunch.

"We expect that the move will help ease jitters in the stock and financial markets," said Chung Hee-chun, director general of the BOK's financial markets department.      

The BOK said it is the first time since the Asian financial crisis that the central bank provided liquidity through repurchase agreement operations.

The BOK added that it plans to provide more liquidity to the market if necessary.