KRX to unveil new corporate responsibility index

Korea’s main bourse operator announced Thursday it will release a new index for measuring a listed company’s environmental, social and governance performance later this month.

The Environmental, Social and Governance index, or ESG, is one of the United Nations’ principles of responsible investment, which encourages investors to look into corporate responsibility factors in making investment decisions.

For the ESG index to gain investors’ support, the Korea Exchange said the market needs an enhanced evaluation model for corporate government structure and development of new financial derivatives, such as ETFs and funds, that benchmark this index.

The KRX said the new ESG index is slated to be unveiled on Nov. 25.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)