204 ETFs Managed, Ranking 7th Globally Among Asset Managers
Net Assets Increased by 10 Trillion KRW in Just 7 Months Since Surpassing 60 Trillion KRW Last July
Samsung Asset Management announced on the 10th that the net assets of KODEX ETFs have surpassed 70 trillion KRW for the first time in the industry. This milestone was reached just over seven months after exceeding 60 trillion KRW in July last year.
The growth of KODEX is attributed to increased purchases by individual investors, with 30 diverse products?including ultra-short-term, overseas index, monthly dividend covered call, and new concept thematic ETFs?each recording net asset increases of over 100 billion KRW.
KODEX Money Market Active and KODEX CD 1-Year Interest Rate Plus Active, which have established themselves as representative domestic ultra-short-term ETFs, grew by 4.84 trillion KRW and 880 billion KRW respectively. Recently, the U.S. flagship index products KODEX U.S. S&P 500 and KODEX U.S. Nasdaq 100, which lowered their total expense ratio to an industry-low 0.0062%, grew from a combined 2.56 trillion KRW to 5.75 trillion KRW, a 125.2% increase.
In the case of KODEX U.S. Nasdaq 100, individual buying continued after the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s legislative notice led to a change in the product type from the previous ‘dividend automatic reinvestment type (TR)’ to ‘dividend payment type’ on the 24th of last month. It recorded the highest net purchase of 35.8 billion KRW among similar products.
Since last year, KODEX has expanded its covered call product lineup, which has attracted growing interest from individual investors, to 10 products, recording a net asset increase of 1.3 trillion KRW. While U.S.-linked products dominate the market, newly launched domestic asset-based products such as KODEX 200 Target Weekly Covered Call and KODEX Financial High Dividend TOP10 Target Weekly Covered Call have surpassed a combined net asset of 200 billion KRW. Since the foreign tax credit system changed in January this year, investors’ concerns over dividend tax on overseas stocks have increased, leading to growing demand for domestic monthly dividend covered calls, which are exempt from tax on both capital gains and income from exchange-traded derivatives.
New thematic types such as KODEX U.S. AI Power Core Infrastructure, KODEX AI Power Core Facilities, and last year’s highest-yielding domestic product KODEX U.S. Study Abroad Ant, as well as KODEX U.S. Dollar SOFR Interest Rate Active, a representative ultra-short-term product that hedges against dollar strength, continue to grow. KODEX TDF2050 Active, which is bringing a fresh breeze to the TDF market mainly composed of public offering products, also saw net asset increases of over 100 billion KRW across various regions, types, and assets, gaining investor preference.
KODEX’s individual net assets increased by 37.9%, from 12.4 trillion KRW to 17.1 trillion KRW. Overseas equity net assets grew by 62.1%, from 7.3 trillion KRW to 11.8 trillion KRW.
Samsung Asset Management’s KODEX widened its gap with the second place by 4.5 trillion KRW. The 204 ETF products currently managed rank 7th globally among asset managers.
Park Myung-je, head of Samsung Asset Management’s ETF Business Division, said, "We are always grateful to the investors who have continuously trusted and supported KODEX, enabling it to surpass 70 trillion KRW in net assets for the first time in the industry." He added, "As the largest ETF manager in Korea, Samsung Asset Management will continue to focus on customers and their returns, striving to develop new products and services that meet customer expectations," and "We will lead efforts to ensure that the Korean ETF market steadily grows beyond 200 trillion KRW to over 300 trillion KRW."
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