Net Assets of ETFs Launched This Year
TIGER 1st, KBSTAR 2nd, KODEX 3rd
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] The dominance of Samsung Asset Management, the top player in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is being shaken. The net assets of ETFs launched this year ranked only fourth among asset management companies, leading to evaluations that the formula 'ETF = KODEX' has been broken.
This Year's ETF Brand is 'TIGER'
According to the Korea Exchange on the 9th, among ETFs launched this year, the one with the largest increase in net assets (AUM) was Mirae Asset Management's ‘TIGER ETF’. As of the 6th, the net assets totaled 1.5618 trillion KRW. Mirae Asset secured the largest net assets among asset managers launching ETFs this year, with two U.S. semiconductor ETFs each securing over 450 billion KRW in net assets. Net assets represent the total of funds inflowed into the fund plus earnings, indicating that Mirae Asset has sold and managed this year's ETFs the best.
KB Asset Management took second place. With a total of eight ‘KBSTAR ETFs’, net assets increased to 760.7 billion KRW. Although this is slightly less than half of Mirae Asset's ETF net assets, it is a very encouraging figure considering KB Asset Management's overall ETF market share is in the single digits.
While other major asset managers made advances, Samsung Asset Management, despite launching 10 ‘KODEX ETFs’, more than other managers, only increased net assets by 436.5 billion KRW.
Due to this year's poor performance, the previously solid market share in the 50% range was also broken. The market share, which had dropped to 51.98% at the end of last year, fell below 50% as of June. As of the 5th, the share had dropped further to 46.06%. Meanwhile, Mirae Asset's share rose to 30.03%, and KB Asset Management also increased its share from the 6% range at the beginning of the year to 8.97%.
Other Asset Managers Are Fighting for Survival...
This phenomenon appears to have occurred because latecomers are fighting for survival by attracting stock market funds trapped in a box range to ETFs (total ETF net assets were 51 trillion KRW at the end of last year and currently 61 trillion KRW). In the case of Hanwha Asset Management, the CEO was recently replaced to secure performance. An industry insider said, "Other asset managers are putting considerable effort into marketing to appeal to individual investors through various sales channels," adding, "Samsung, on the other hand, holds a relatively fixed market of index, reverse, and bond ETFs mainly for institutional ‘hedge’ purposes, so it has not been aggressive in retail sales, which seems to have resulted in this outcome."
There are also criticisms about the lack of creative products. Looking at the ETFs launched this year, Samsung seems to be following the products released by Mirae Asset. For example, when Mirae Asset launched Fn New Renewable Energy (March 5) and U.S. Philadelphia Semiconductor Nasdaq (April 9), Samsung launched K-New Renewable Energy Active (May 25) and U.S. Semiconductor MV (June 30).
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