[INTERVIEW] More listed companies in Korea urged to go for dual listing on NYSE

Cassandra Seier, the head of International Capital Markets for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group, poses on the NYSE trading floor in New York City, in this photo taken on Aug. 4, 2022. Courtesy of NYSE Group

World’s largest stock market embraced AI long before it made headlines

By Yi Whan-woo

More listed companies in Korea are encouraged to go public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a dual listing to capitalize on the world’s “deepest liquidity” that the U.S. stock market can offer, a senior NYSE executive said.

In an interview with The Korea Times in late August, Cassandra Seier, the head of International Capital Markets for NYSE Group, also said artificial intelligence (AI) has been a part of the state-of-the-art technology adapted by the NYSE even decades before AI made headlines.

“The U.S capital market as well as its average daily trading volume remain the deepest in liquidity across global markets,” Seier said during her trip to Seoul, noting the NYSE is listed with around 2,400 companies that are worth over $36 trillion in total and its average daily trading volume is over $53 billion.

“The tools and services, the investor relations package that we offer is very good and any company in the world, if they’re listed on the NYSE, their stocks tend to trade at a higher quality,” she said.

“So, Korean companies can benefit from tapping into the (world’s) deepest liquidity.”

Seier also addressed the benefit of visibility on the global stage, saying, “When a company is listed on our platform, people know who they are, what they do, what their business model is and it is a very powerful network of listed companies and the community.”

Seier underscored that it does not necessarily have to be private companies that go public on the NYSE.

“It can be companies that are already listed and publicly traded on another exchange, and want to add a dual listing,” she explained. “A dual listing is something we talk to companies (about).”

She was in Korea on a routine trip to the Asia-Pacific region to attract new listings as well as to advise companies, private equity and venture capital firms, investment banks and others regarding the initial public offering (IPO) landscape, NYSE initiatives and listing venue selection.

More than 530 of the total companies listed on the NYSE are from outside the U.S., including 10 from Korea — POSCO, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), SK Telecom, KT, KB Financial Group, Shinhan Financial Group, Woori Financial Group, LG Display, Gravity and Coupang.

All of them except for Coupang are also listed on Seoul’s benchmark KOSPI.

By market cap, the NYSE has 99 percent market share of Korean listed companies in the U.S.

Seier highlighted that the NYSE’s market for new listings has been active in the post-pandemic period, with these offerings raising $12 billion in the first six months of 2024.

The amount is the highest in the world over the same time period and also is higher than the two previous years combined, according to Seier.

In addition to IPOs, the NYSE also recently welcomed Flutter Entertainment and CRH, both Irish companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange and moved their primary listing to the NYSE.

“They want to grow their U.S. customer base, because when they list on the NYSE, it elevates their brand and offers a global visibility,” she said.

On the other hand, no Korean companies have joined the NYSE since Coupang made its debut in March 2021.

She forecasts that the NYSE will continue to see the recovery of its IPO market.

“We’re talking to companies very actively in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America and Canada and the companies are telling us 2025 and 2026 are possible time windows.”

Accordingly, she welcomed more Korean businesses to join. “There is potential for more Korean companies to come and be represented on a global stage,” she said.

“It (Korea) is a good fit for the NYSE as a platform because it’s more mature, more developed versus emerging markets.”

Concerning its trading platform, Seier explained that it is “a hybrid model of human traders and state-of-the-art technology” that helps stocks trade better and reduces volatility.

Asked about the exchange’s use of AI, she said, “This has not been a new topic even before the advent of ChatGPT.”

“Our trading is a mix of technologies, market data as well as the ability for a human to exercise extra oversight over technology,” she said.

Prior to joining the NYSE, Seier spent more than 24 years at Goldman Sachs, serving as a managing director focusing on futures and over-the-counter (OTC) clearing and working closely with buy-side clients, sell-side firms and exchange relationships globally.