[2023 Capital Investment Awards] "Personal Finance and IT Innovation... Efforts to Develop Pensions and Funds"

Evaluation Comments by Jeong Sunseop, Chair of the Jury (Professor at Seoul National University School of Law)

Professor Jeong Sunseop of Seoul National University School of Law is attending the '2023 Asia Capital Investment Awards Ceremony' held at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 5th, delivering a judging comment. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

Despite rapidly changing market conditions, domestic securities and asset management firms have achieved innovative growth in the fields of corporate finance (IB) and customized wealth management (WM). They have made efforts to provide objective research data and to advance retirement pensions and mobile trading systems (MTS).

The judging panel compared and analyzed the official materials submitted by securities and asset management firms and the evaluation data prepared by the Asia Economy staff across various sectors including IB, information technology (IT), WM, research, retirement pensions, MTS, funds, and deals.

The grand prize was awarded to Korea Investment & Securities. They enhanced the stability and profitability of client asset management by raising competitive bonds, alternative and stable funds. Based on this, the balance of individual customer financial products surged by 11.96 trillion KRW within a year from 38.44 trillion KRW in June last year, surpassing 50 trillion KRW for the first time in the securities industry.

Kiwoom Securities was selected for the Best Award in IT Innovation. They launched the 'KiwoGO Asset Allocation Wrap' using their self-developed artificial intelligence (AI) robo-advisor and expanded business agreements to lead the token securities business. Last year, they were the only major securities firm to record zero complaints related to system failures.

Daishin Securities was chosen as the Best Award winner in the IB sector. This year, they revitalized the public offering market by underwriting 11 IPOs, including innovative venture company listings.

Mirae Asset Securities won the Best Award in the WM sector (overseas). They continued growth in overseas business with the largest network, including 10 local corporations and 3 offices. Hana Securities received the Best Award in the WM sector (domestic). They led a sound investment trend by launching products such as the Hanaro Connection Wrap investing in leading domestic growth stocks and the Ncarry Wrap investing in Japan-listed U.S. bond ETFs, catering to demand for high-interest and fixed-rate products.

Shinhan Investment Corp. won the Best Award in the Research sector. Their research headquarters has published numerous killer contents such as ‘IntheStory,’ ‘Bluebook,’ and ‘Global Magazine,’ and plans to provide over 110 in-depth reports and ESG (environment, social, governance) corporate research services for more than 180 companies by the end of the year.

NH Investment & Securities received the Best Award in the retirement pension sector (DC-type highest yield). As of last September, DC reserves increased by 29.7% from the end of last year to 1.1996 trillion KRW, recording the highest growth rate among all retirement pension providers. Samsung Securities won the Best Award in the retirement pension sector (default option). They established the industry’s first pension-specialized organization, the Samsung Securities Pension Center, and ranked first in returns for the default option’s ultra-low risk and low-risk categories over three months.

KB Securities was selected for the Best Award in the MTS sector. They provide their representative MTS service 'M-able' and 'M-able mini' for novice investors tailored to different customer types.

Korea Investment Trust Management was chosen as the Best Asset Manager in the fund sector. The net asset value of the rebranded 'ACE' ETF last October increased by 75.05% compared to the beginning of the year as of last July, successfully surpassing 5 trillion KRW for the first time.

The Best Fund Awards went to Mirae Asset Global Investments’ Mirae Asset Core Tech Fund, which focused on new growth industries and recorded excellent returns; Samsung Asset Management’s KODEX CD Interest Rate Active ETF, which surpassed 3 trillion KRW in net assets in the shortest period since launch; and KB Asset Management’s OnGukmin and Dynamic TDF series, which attracted the largest inflow of approximately 250 billion KRW among target-date fund (TDF) managers since the beginning of the year.

The Best Deal Award this year was jointly awarded to UCK Partners and MBK Partners for their collaboration in the Medit and Osstem Implant mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Both deals were large-scale transactions exceeding 2 trillion KRW in deal value, demonstrating their stature as Asia’s top buyout funds.