Cho Seung-rae calls for public disclosure of fractional investment licensing reviews and retry opportunities for rejected companies

South Korean Democratic Party lawmaker Cho Seung-rae on April 9 called for the Financial Services Commission to disclose its screening criteria for fractional-investment licenses and to let rejected applicants reapply, arguing the process favors incumbents over small innovators. The push follows the FSC's February 13 decision to grant preliminary approval for over-the-counter trust beneficiary certificate trading to just two of the applicants, the NXT consortium and KDX, under a cap limiting new licenses to two. Cho framed the demand as a question of procedural fairness rather than special treatment for failed bidders. The outcome matters because the two-license cap shapes who can broker Korea's growing fractional-investment market, where platforms let retail investors buy stakes in assets such as real estate and artwork. What to watch next is whether the FSC publishes its review standards and opens a second application window for the rejected firms.