Market Trends and Implications Around the Launch of Single-Stock Leveraged and Inverse ETFs [Senior Research Fellow] JANG, GEUNHYUK / Jul. 14, 2026 On May 27, 2026, single-stock leveraged and inverse (2×) ETFs based on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were launched. With rapid inflows from retail investors, cumulative net purchases through June 19 reached approximately KRW 8.2 trillion for leveraged ETFs and KRW 0.3 trillion for inverse (2×) ETFs. Immediately after the launch, retail investor capital flows showed increased... Distributional Heterogeneity of KOSDAQ-Listed Firms and Future Policy Tasks [Senior Research Fellow] Kang, Sohyun / Jul. 14, 2026 KOSDAQ was established to support capital raising by small and venture firms and to promote the growth of innovative firms, and over the past three decades it has achieved a certain degree of success in terms of quantitative expansion and the supply of venture capital. However, given the heterogeneity of firms currently listed on KOSDAQ, it is more appropriate to understand it ... Reshaping Financial Infrastructure: Global CSDs and South Korea’s Post-Trade Market [Research Fellow] Jung, Soomin / Jul. 14, 2026 Global financial market infrastructure is moving beyond record-keeping and custody. It is becoming platform infrastructure that connects multiple assets and networks. This shift reflects the growth of digital assets, tokenization, and distributed ledger technology.

Major CSDs such as DTCC, Euroclear, and Clearstream are not treating digital assets as a separate marke... Beyond the Surface: Hidden Vulnerabilities and Potential Systemic Risk in the U.S. Private Credit Market [Senior Research Fellow] Shin, Bosung / Jun. 30, 2026 The profitability of U.S. private credit borrowers appears to have deteriorated substantially. The potential for Fed policy rate hikes driven by inflation, combined with large-scale borrowing by hyperscalers, is expected to drive up interest costs for these companies. Weakening profitability and rising interest burdens will lead to borrower default, eroding the net asset value ... The Need for Loss Netting in the Education Tax Base: Focusing on Market Makers and Liquidity Providers [Senior Research Fellow] JANG, GEUNHYUK / Jun. 16, 2026 Market makers (MMs) and ETF liquidity providers (LPs) in the stock market inherently engage in both trading and hedging transactions as part of their liquidity provision activities. Accordingly, the net profit or loss resulting from the netting of gains and losses on these transactions represents their actual earnings, which is economically analogous to brokerage commissions. U...