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p e o p l e p e o p l e B ased in Sydney, Australia, the investment banking and fnancial services power- house known as Macquarie Group traces its roots back 35 years. It has used this time to slowly evolved into the fnancial juggernaut that it is today, employing over 14,000 staf in 28 countries. Named afer Australia’s favorite 19th century governor, Lachlan Macquarie, who was instrumental in altering the country toward a path of prosperity, the Macquarie Group has sought to emulate that track re- cord of progress into a brave, new world. Ross Gregory has been in Korea for 10 years, and much of that time has been spent as Director of Macquarie Securities Korea, Ltd. S Plus Magazine recently sat down with Greg- ory to pick his brain about his key role within Korea’s dynamic fnancial industry, as well as his thoughts on being immersed in a country that has an intoxicating entrepreneurial un- dertone. You’re quite a busy guy. What’s going on in the forefront of your mind these days? Currently, I’m overseeing Macquarie Securi- ties Korea and our continued development of structured products, such as Equity-Linked Securities (ELS), which ofer investors upside yield over blue chips and indices in the Korean and foreign markets with generally a relative- ly low risk. Some products are capital protect- ed. I have been studying the Korean regulato- ry landscape closely for many years and I’m quite intrigued with comments recently made by Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Shin Je-yoon. Chairman Shin con- tinues to be an advocate for Korean fnancial frms to become more globally competitive to ensure that the country doesn’t punch below its weight in its fnancial markets. For in- stance, the fnancial services sectors in coun- tries like the UK and Hong Kong account for over 20 percent of their GDPs, whereas that same sector in Korea only accounts for 4.7 percent of its GDP. A reason for this is that older Koreans have a tendency to view fnan- cial companies as a mere support and service provider for the industrial economy, such as manufacturing and more traditional export sectors, rather than a growth market generat- ing alpha in its own right, such as in the area of asset management. Hence, these kinds of progressive comments from industry leaders in Korea tend to catch my attention and make me optimistic for the future of Korea’s capital markets. What kind of popular investment products are not common in Korea now, but which eventually you envision we may see more of in this country? I think one area of growth will be in ex- change-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs are gain- ing traction because they provide meaningful benefts such as lower fees and tax advan- tages. Te market is still in a nascent stage. I think asset management generally must inev- itably expand in terms of both AUM and asset variation with a move away from fxed inter- est to equities and alternatives investments. Te fedgling hedge fund industry has a lot of room to grow. Finally, I would hope to see more listed products given the transparency, liquidity and price competitiveness that tends to accompany them. What is it about Korea that is attracting for- eign investors at the moment? Korea has a great labor force: very well- trained and diligent, very creative. As just one example, we sent some of our Korean staf to work at a Hong Kong ofce not long ago, and they outperformed the locals there. I think foreign investors and entrepreneurs are tak- ing notice of things like this, even if Koreans aren ’t always fully aware of their own compet- itive value on the world stage. President Park Geun-hye’s drive to ofer subsidies for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is also encouraging, although many of those benefts are being directed to more traditional sectors, such as manufacturing and exports. I hope some of those initiatives can be extended to other industries like leisure, sports, tourism and fnancial services. Tere is no doubt that Korea needs to stimulate its services sector and it certainly has the talent and potential to make this sector great. As a fan of the small business startup cul- ture in the foreign community in Korea, what areas are you watching for potential growth? I think that the craf beer market in Korea has been seeing some interesting growth, partic- ularly over the past year. Tere are a group of players who have been steadily on the rise to help lay the foundation of the industry, such as Crafworks and Magpie. Supply can be an issue, though, so I think a real opportunity exists in the brewing side of things, which, until now, has been confned to a small num- bers of local players. Given the robustness of Korea’s socializing and drinking culture and the maturing of Korean taste buds away from traditional fltered beers, I think the craf beer scene could break out more widely, chipping away at some market share dominated by soju and fltered beers such as Cass and Hite. You’ve been in Korea for 10 years. Is there anything you miss from Australia that you can’t fnd in Korea? Korea has a great labor force: very well-trained and diligent,. very creative. For example, we sent some of our Korean staff to work at our Hong Kong offce, not long ago, and they outperformed the locals there.