South Korea May Merge Daewoo Securities, Woori Investment

South Korea may merge Daewoo Securities Co. and Woori Investment & Securities Co. to leapfrog Samsung Securities Co. and spark takeovers in the brokerage industry, the head of the Financial Services Commission said.

“South Korean brokerages lack the scale to become globally competitive,” Kim Seok Dong, chairman of the regulator, said in an interview on April 5. “We’ll encourage industry consolidation through mergers and acquisitions and reduce regulation so they can expand into new businesses.”