The Financial Supervisory Service's headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Financial Supervisory Service

Korea's financial watchdog said Wednesday it has imposed over 80 billion won ($55 million) in fines on global investors over illegal short selling, with the country set to lift its temporary ban on the stock trading practice at the end of this month.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the Futures and Securities Committee under the Financial Service Commission (FSC) had completed its 16-month probe into suspected illegal short selling by 14 global investment banks (IBs), and levied a combined 83.6 billion won in fines on 13 IBs.

The country imposed a temporary ban on the practice in November 2023 after a series of naked short selling violations involving several global investment banks were discovered.

The financial regulator said earlier it is planning to allow short selling on all publicly traded companies here.

Before the short selling ban, only 350 listed firms, namely the constituents of the KOSPI 200 index and the KOSDAQ 150 index, had been subject to short selling.

The short selling ban is set to be lifted March 31. (Yonhap)