Baek Woonseong, CEO of Plus Asset Management, "Customized to Individual Customer Needs... Expanding Public Fund Proportion"

Completion of 4 Stock Fund Lineups
Asset Allocation Concentrated in MMFs
Expansion to 30% Including Alternative Funds

Interview Baek Woon-sung, CEO of Plus Asset Management, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 17th. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] "The customer's thoughts are our thoughts. We will strive to build the trust we have earned from institutional investors with individual customers as well."

Baek Woon-seong, CEO of Plus Asset Management, recently expressed in an interview with Asia Economy his ambition to grow into a sustainable asset management company by launching public funds tailored to customer needs. Plus Asset Management completed a lineup of four equity public funds that have attracted strong investor interest, including small and mid-cap stocks, IT tech, and Korea representative growth stock funds, by launching public offering funds in the first half of this year.

Plus Asset Management has distinguished itself in short-term bond management products, accumulating a high level of assets under management. The bond-type assets under management, including Money Market Funds (MMF), amount to 5.4 trillion KRW, representing the largest portion of total assets. Since starting with the new type (general) in 2005, the company has managed all types of funds including personal (2008) and government bond types (2019). As of the 25th, the 'Plus New Type Corporate' fund attracted 2.3 trillion KRW, and the 'Plus Government Bond Corporate' fund gathered 1.7 trillion KRW in assets. Although the government bond fund was launched less than two years ago, it has raised about 2 trillion KRW from corporations.

In the case of the new type MMF, it has maintained stable profits despite the fund run incident caused by the inclusion of Qatar and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) ABCP. At that time, as concerns over ABCP defaults grew, asset managers who had conventionally included large amounts of such assets in MMFs faced massive redemptions, severely impacting liquidity. CEO Baek said, "In March last year, when interest rates surged sharply, there was a large redemption of over 2 trillion KRW from MMF funds, but we suffered less damage compared to other asset managers," adding, "This was the result of cautious avoidance of excessive asset inclusion that affects liquidity and good credit risk management."

Equity funds are also performing steadily in both the short and long term. As of the 25th, the 'Tenbagger Small and Mid-Cap Securities Investment Trust' posted a one-year return close to 96.4%, significantly outperforming the domestic active equity fund one-year average return of 88%. Its five-year return was 71%, exceeding the average of 41.4%. The 'Korea Representative Growth Securities Investment Trust,' which mainly holds growth stocks such as secondary battery and IT companies, achieved a 94% profit over one year and a 72% return over five years. CEO Baek stated, "Although the bond-type (including MMF) portion is relatively high, we plan to expand sales of equity and alternative funds to increase their share to 30% of total managed assets," adding, "We are renewing the alternative fund organization and plan to launch a blind fund around April to May this year."

However, the prolonged slump in the public fund market since last year poses a burden for Plus Asset Management. Over the past year, 21 trillion KRW has exited domestic equity funds, and with the direct investment boom following COVID-19, capital outflows from public funds have intensified.

Regarding this, CEO Baek argued that for public funds to be consumed more by investors, funds must be made more accessible and easier to approach. Since consumers can now invest as they wish through stocks or ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), active funds need to quickly understand individual needs and launch products accordingly. He firmly stated that lowering fees is necessary to increase incentives for investors to enter public funds.

CEO Baek explained, "It is necessary to focus on increasing the total cost through investor inflow rather than achieving short-term performance by lowering fees," adding, "While the domestic stock market may rise further, it is unlikely that a bull market like last year will reoccur, so the importance of public funds that help diversify risks from market shocks will become even more pronounced."

Looking ahead, the stock market is expected to see a rise in cyclical stocks centered on export and consumer sectors in the short term, but investor interest in growth stocks is anticipated to increase in the long term. He said, "While growth stocks may rise less during the rise of cyclical stocks, the paradigm that these companies will lead the market will not change," adding, "Considering both deposit and CMA balances, the stock market's standby funds amount to about 130 trillion KRW, and the abundant liquidity of individuals will firmly support the downside rigidity of the index."

△Baek Woon-seong, CEO of Plus Asset Management = He began his career at Daehan Investment Trust (now Hana Financial Investment), served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Plus Asset Management, and has been CEO since 2019. As a founding member of Plus Asset Management with over 20 years of experience, he has mainly been responsible for fund product development and marketing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.