Korea Investment Trust Management, ACE FTSE WGBI Korea ETF Newly Listed

Korea Investment Trust Management announced on the 17th that it will newly list the ACE FTSE WGBI Korea Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) on the 18th.

The ACE FTSE WGBI Korea ETF is a bond ETF that allows diversified investment in Korean government bonds with various maturities. It includes 63 excellent government bonds with issuance amounts exceeding 1 trillion KRW, which have profitability and stability among Korean treasury bonds, and the expected remaining maturity (duration) is about 10 years. The underlying index is the FTSE Korean Government Bond Index (Total Return), calculated and published by FTSE Fixed Income LLC.

Korean government bonds were included in the FTSE Russell World Government Bond Index (WGBI) in October last year. The FTSE Russell WGBI is one of the world's largest government bond indices, including government bonds from 26 major countries. The funds tracking the WGBI are estimated to be about 360 trillion KRW. The announced weight of Korea in the WGBI at the time of inclusion was 2.22%, and actual index reflection will begin in November this year, with the inclusion ratio gradually increasing over one year.

Since the announcement of WGBI inclusion, investment interest in Korean government bonds has been growing. According to the Korea Securities Depository, the scale of foreign investors' use of integrated government bond accounts has continuously increased since the announcement of Korea's inclusion in the WGBI. As of the end of last month, the cumulative transaction amount exceeded 60 trillion KRW. Investing in the ACE FTSE WGBI Korea ETF means effectively investing in government bonds that will directly benefit from global capital inflows.

Cho Ik-hwan, senior fund manager of FI Operation Department 1 at Korea Investment Trust Management, explained, "For those interested in related investments after the inclusion of Korean government bonds in the WGBI or those interested in bonds with long durations, the ACE FTSE WGBI Korea ETF will be a good choice."

He added, "As the Trump 2.0 era begins and financial market volatility expands, it is necessary to increase the proportion of safe assets in the portfolio," emphasizing, "Considering risk-adjusted performance, domestic bonds will play an important role in asset allocation strategies."

The ACE FTSE WGBI Korea ETF is a performance-distributing product, so investors should be aware that principal loss may occur depending on the management results.