Samsung Asset Management Lists Covered Call ETF in the US... "Second Export Triumph"

Samsung Asset Management has exported its second K-ETF to the U.S. ETF market, the home of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

On the 30th, Samsung Asset Management announced that it listed the Amplify Bloomberg US Target High Income ETF (ticker symbol TLTP) on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) in the U.S., in collaboration with Amplify, a U.S.-based ETF specialist firm.

TLTP is a localized version of the product structure of KODEX US 30-Year Treasury Target Covered Call (Synthetic H), which Samsung Asset Management launched in the domestic market in April this year. Using the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), a representative long-term U.S. bond ETF, as the underlying asset, Samsung Asset Management and Amplify jointly developed this product to secure a 12% annual premium through call option writing and distribute dividends of 1% monthly.

As of the end of October, KODEX US 30-Year Treasury Target Covered Call (Synthetic H) has paid a total dividend of 6.41% over six distributions, with net individual purchases reaching 223 billion KRW and net assets totaling approximately 410 billion KRW.

TLTP was listed under Amplify’s name, with Samsung Asset Management’s New York local office fully responsible for its management. The underlying index used is the Bloomberg US Treasury 20+ Year 12% Premium Covered Call 2.0 Index.

Currently, about 150 covered call ETFs have been rapidly listed in the U.S. ETF market, with total net assets approaching 130 trillion KRW. However, most covered call products are primarily equity-based. Samsung Asset Management, together with Amplify, has launched a differentiated product in the U.S. market by applying the successful U.S. bond + target premium covered call ETF structure from Korea.

Last year, Samsung Asset Management also replicated the world’s first domestically listed KODEX US Dollar SOFR Reactive ETF as the Amplify Samsung SOFR ETF (ticker code SOFR) and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange at the end of last year. This product is the first case of a domestic native ETF exported to the U.S. stock market and the first U.S.-listed ETF directly managed by a Korean asset management company.

SOFR tracks the U.S. risk-free benchmark interest rate (SOFR, Secured Overnight Financing Rate) index yield. Since SOFR is a benchmark rate calculated daily based on one-day repurchase agreement (RP) transaction data collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities, it accumulates a daily ultra-short-term interest rate of about 4.8% annually compounded without loss and distributes dividends monthly. Its current net assets amount to 340 billion KRW.

Jiwon Ha, Head of the ETF Business Division at Samsung Asset Management, said, "We are very pleased to showcase the differentiated product development capabilities and management expertise of Korean financial firms in the U.S. market, the home of ETFs, by launching TLTP as the second product just one year after the first K-ETF export product, SOFR." He added, "We will continue to export unique KODEX ETF products to the U.S. ETF market and strive to have the status of Korean asset management companies recognized in the global market."