South Korea's newly appointed top financial regulator promised to make all necessary efforts to prepare for the integration of the country's capital market slated to start in 2009. "Full efforts will be made to be ready for the implementation of the Capital Market Consolidation Act in 2009 to help develop the country into a financial hub in East Asia," said Kim Yong-duk, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, in his inaugural speech. To this end, the FSC’s executive body, the Financial Supervisory Service, has eased the minimum debt-to-equity ratio of asset managers seeking mergers and acquisitions to 300 per cent from 200 per cent in order to help domestic financial institutions compete with foreign investors. The decision comes 18-months prior to the Capital Market Consolidation Act which aims to remove the boundaries between financial institutions, including banking, securities and insurance companies, and allow brokerages, futures traders and asset managers to engage in each other's businesses. Since 2004, there have been five M&A deals in the asset management industry. In the same period, there were eight cases in which major shareholders of asset management firms changed. In May, UBS Global Asset management acquired a 51 per cent stake in Daehan Investment Trust Management and launched UBS Hana Asset Management, the regulator said. Currently, 52 asset management companies operate in the country, including 18 firms jointly run by foreign firms. The joint ventures make up 42.8 per cent of the market.