Hong kong consultancy Risk Latte plans South Korean volatility index

“Korea is a very liquid and important market,” says Risk Latte chief executive Rahul Bhattacharya. But there are challenges. “A lot of the data we need is not available via Bloomberg, so we’re a bit apprehensive,” he said. Bhattacharya generally bases his indexes on market data supplied by Bloomberg.

“A lot of the implied volatility numbers or a lot of options prices will have to be taken from websites, which could become a problem,” he added. Bhattacharya added that the websites of major Korean stockbrokers such as Hyundai Securities and LG Securities could be possible sources.

Risk Latte is still in negotiations to have its Hixx and Tixx indexes distributed by Bloomberg. Bhattacharya expects discussions to be completed by February 2004.