Press Releases

 Growing Influence of Private Equity Funds (PEFs) Met with Regulatory Void
—Urgent Need to Strengthen the Efficacy of Responsible Investment

- National Assembly Policy Forum for Shifting Toward Responsible Investment Successfully Concluded, Jointly Hosted by National Assembly Member Yoon Kim (Democratic Party of Korea) and KoSIF

- FSC Announces Plans via Its 2026 Work Report to Drive ESG Information Disclosure and Implementation Monitoring Across PEFs

- Highlights Need for Constructing Data Frameworks Based on Global Benchmarks (EDCI) and Instituting Third-Party Verification

- Deficiencies in the Practical Efficacy of Responsible Investment Prompt Calls for Enhanced Investor Protection and Institutional Reform

Amid upcoming expansions of ESG disclosures and stronger implementation monitoring by financial regulatory authorities, experts argue that establishing institutional frameworks to secure the practical efficacy of responsible investment within Private Equity Funds (PEFs) and to bolster investor protection is a matter of immediate urgency.

The Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (Chairperson Young-ho Kim, hereinafter KoSIF), in joint partnership with National Assembly Member Yoon Kim of the Democratic Party of Korea, hosted the "National Assembly Policy Forum on Domestic and International Trends and the Proliferation of Responsible Investment" on the 25th at the Small Auditorium of the National Assembly Library. The forum was organized to re-examine the legal and social accountability of PEFs, which have emerged as a dominant pillar of capital markets, and to explore structural methodologies for strengthening the fiduciary duties of public financial institutions.

National Assembly Member Yoon Kim of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee who hosted the event, stated in his opening remarks:

"I anticipate this forum will serve as an in-depth arena for discourse encompassing everything from strengthening the fiduciary duties of public financial institutions to locking in the legal accountability of private equity funds. I will dedicate my efforts to ensuring that responsible investment takes deep root as an unshakeable core principle of our capital markets."

Dr. Karl C. S. Yang, CEO of KoSIF, emphasized the proactive roles required from both the National Assembly and the government in his welcoming address:

"Confronting the generational imperative of 'Transition Finance,' a genuine industrial overhaul can only materialize when the operational flexibility of private equity funds is systematically integrated with the pioneering, leadership role of public finance."

Ineffective 'Checkbox' Responsible Investment Critiqued… Urgent Call to Overhaul Portfolios via Global Data Frameworks (EDCI)

The first keynote presentation was delivered by Tae-han Kim, COO of KoSIF. "Responsible investment is not a fleeting political issue tethered to any specific administration; rather, it is a core structural element required to optimize long-term investment yields," stated COO Kim, pointing out that active shareholder engagement by public pension funds, including the National Pension Service (NPS), remains profoundly deficient. He added, "We must move past superficial, checkbox-style responsible investment designed merely 'for show,' and aggressively push policy initiatives that wield genuine, practical influence." 

The second presentation was conducted by Byung-sam Kim, Partner at Deloitte Anjin LLC (Deloitte Korea). Partner Kim noted, "The Financial Services Commission (FSC) has signaled a massive tightening of ESG implementation monitoring and information disclosure targeted at asset managers, pension funds, and private equity funds through its 2026 Work Report," emphasizing that the private equity industry must rapidly assemble corporate response strategies. He advised, "The industry needs to construct robust portfolio data architectures based on the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) standards agreed upon by global LPs. Securing the underlying credibility of ESG information via expanding data coverage and locking in mandatory third-party verification is an imperative milestone."

The final keynote presentation was led by Professor Yu-seong Kim of Yonsei University, who spoke on the topic of "The Legal Accountability of Private Equity Funds and Institutional Bottlenecks." Professor Kim remarked, "Despite an array of structural reform proposals emerging alongside heightened public scrutiny toward private equity funds, the current regulatory framework remains profoundly inadequate." He strongly emphasized that "comprehensive legal and institutional overhauls are vital to safeguard stakeholders and elevate the core accountability of private equity operations." 

The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by Jun-hyuk Jung, Professor at Seoul National University School of Law. The participating panelists uniformly agreed that expanding the fiduciary duties of public pension funds like the NPS and accelerating ESG integration within the domestic PEF sector are vital to scale responsible investment, and they put forward diverse policy and institutional blueprints to achieve these overhauls.

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 Inquiries: Hanjin Yu  Team Lead (hwcharisma89@kosif.org)