"As my name is Walker, I will walk around to explain the investment environment in Korea."
Unlike other speakers standing on the podium, Walker stepped closer to the audience and went over the slides he prepared for the presentation, asking for "active engagement in making investment in Korea."
Before going into details, the CEO said, "The Korean financial sector is a ‘Can-Do' market. It is well on its way to continuous growth and change."
He went on to say, "It is far from the truth that Korea is hostile to foreign capital. Given its sophisticated and transparent market, Korea will provide various opportunities to overseas investors."
The head of Macquarie Korea was reminiscent not so much of the chairman of a group as of a working-level manager as he walked around the hall and gave a passionate speech.
"Korea has made progress based on a ‘sweating' economy over the past 40 years until 2000, and it has continued the growth through ‘thinking economy' since 2000. Now the county is enjoying a ‘creative' economy," said Walker.
Hinting at the secret of success, the CEO said, "Macquarie Group has achieved remarkable growth since it first entered the Korean market in 2000. Macquarie Korea has succeeded in localization as over 90% of our staff members are Koreans."
For a 20 minute-long seminar, Walker concluded that Korea is one of the finest investment destinations for Australian companies, given business-friendly environment and government deregulation drive in Korea.
He also added. "The financial market in Korea has many challenges to overcome, but it will ride out all the difficulties."
Asked about the prospect of the financial turmoil in Dubai, Walker said that there would not be a major problem and that it will be another opportunity for Korea and Macquarie.