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By Anna J. Park
Listed companies on the Korean stock market have become more engaging, as the number of the firms' public disclosures increased by 16 percent.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) ― the country's bourse operator ― on Sunday, the total number of public disclosures announced by listed firms in the main benchmark KOSPI market last year was 18,945, which is a 16 percent increase from the previous year. The average disclosure per company throughout the year was about 23, which is an increase of 2.6 from the previous year.
What is notable is the huge increase in the number of voluntary public disclosures. A total of 1,720 disclosures by listed companies were voluntary, up more than 47 percent year-on-year.
Listed companies have also become active and fast in responding to widespread rumors or erroneous reports. Public disclosures of this nature more than doubled last year, rising 134.2 percent from the previous year.
Frequent company announcements about their ESG-principled management has also been another distinctive feature. Such disclosures are mostly from listed companies' sustainable management reports, and the number of them doubled in 2021 from the previous year. The public disclosure on ESG-factors is slated to be obligatory from 2025 for KOSPI-listed companies of certain sizes.
Public disclosures written in English also increased by 107.8 percent last year. A total of 1,600 disclosures were announced in English by companies for the sake of their overseas investors.
The KRX vows to continue supporting listed companies' investor relations (IR) activities, strengthening the role of public disclosures. The bourse operator will also support disclosures in the English language as a way to raise foreign investors' accessibility to the listed companies' information.
