Korea's Capital Markets Consolidation Act, which finally took effect on Wednesday, was undoubtedly well-intentioned when first conceived a few years ago. The world's 10th biggest capital market punches well below its weight. Commercial banks dominate financing and there are no home-grown investment banks of scale. Almost 50 securities companies fight it out for business which is neither exciting nor especially profitable. Perhaps 70 per cent of industry revenues come from straight agency broking, and commissions are being ground lower by competition. Capital markets themselves are shrinking. The stock market is worth less than in 2005, and equity issuance has slowed to a trickle: last year less than $4bn was raised, versus $15bn in 1999, according to ThomsonReuters. Corporate bond issuance was 60 per cent of the 2002 peak. As a percentage of economic output, capital markets have been in retreat for much of the past decade, even before this financial crisis.
本周三最终生效的韩国《资本市场合并法》(Capital Markets Consolidation Act)在几年前最初构思时无疑是出于好意。韩国这个世界第十大资本市场有点名不符实。商业银行占据了金融业的主体，且没有一家上规模的本土投资银行。约50家证券公司你争我夺，就为着一些既不激动人心又不是特别能赚钱的业务。约70%的行业收入来自于纯粹的经纪业务，佣金则因为竞争而被压得更低。资本市场自身正在萎缩。股票市场市值已经低于2005年的水平，股票发行量已缩减成涓涓细流：根据汤森路透(ThomsonReuters)的数据，韩国股票市场去年的融资额还不到40亿美元，而1999年时有150亿美元。公司债的发行量仅相当于2002年峰值水平的60%。以占manbetx20客户端下载 总产出的比例来衡量，资本市场在过去10年的大部分时间一直呈下滑趋势，甚至在本轮金融危机发生前就开始了。