Korean ETF issuers ready new synthetic wave

Issuers of exchange-traded funds in Korea are busily preparing for the introduction of synthetic replication, with the regulator set to announce guidelines for implementation this June. In that sense Korea is headed in the opposite direction to much of the rest of the world, given that swaps-based replication has kicked up such a storm of protest owing to the absence of underlying physical assets and potential for counterparty risk. “I think all ETF providers in Korea are prepar…