Super Rich Portfolio's Top Pick is 'Samsung Electronics'

Samsung Securities Analyzes High-Net-Worth Clients with Over 3 Billion KRW in H1
Focus on Large Blue-Chip Stocks...Global Asset Allocation
Overseas Stocks Prefer Tesla and Amazon.com

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] High-net-worth individuals holding financial assets exceeding 3 billion KRW showed the strongest preference for Samsung Electronics stocks. In overseas markets, Tesla and Amazon.com were the most purchased stocks.

According to Samsung Securities on the 21st, as of the first half of this year, investors with assets over 3 billion KRW purchased Samsung Electronics, the leading domestic blue-chip stock, followed by KODEX 200, NAVER, Kakao, Kia, SK Hynix, HMM, Hyundai Motor, SK Innovation, and LG Electronics. Corporate clients with large investment volumes also favored Samsung Electronics, NAVER, LG Chem, Kakao, SK Hynix, Samsung SDI, Hyundai Motor, and KODEX 200.

Samsung Electronics Most Favored Domestically, Tesla Overseas

Notably, among domestic stock investments, seven out of the top ten stocks purchased by both high-net-worth individuals and corporations in the first half of this year overlapped. Most of these were large-cap blue-chip stocks such as Samsung Electronics, NAVER, Kakao, SK Hynix, Hyundai Motor, SK Innovation, and KODEX 200. On the other hand, the proportion of leveraged and inverse 2X ETFs, which were widely included among the top purchased stocks by high-net-worth individuals and corporations as of the end of June last year, significantly decreased in the first half of this year.

Samsung Securities analyzed that the stock market has clearly shifted from a liquidity-driven phase to a performance-driven phase recently. Last year, the market experienced a short-term surge fueled by massive global liquidity, leading to some inverse investments betting on price declines as a hedge against corrections. However, recently, investors have been gravitating towards safe, high-quality stocks suitable for long-term investment to prepare for increased market volatility.

It is also noteworthy that high-net-worth individuals and corporations have rapidly increased their overseas stock holdings. Compared to 2019, high-net-worth individuals increased their overseas stock holdings by 258.4%, and corporate clients by 192.7%. This reflects a growing consensus on building global portfolios through overseas stocks over recent years. In the first half of this year, Tesla was the most purchased stock by asset holders in overseas markets. Amazon.com, which was first last year, fell to second place. Apple, Direxion Daily S&P 500 3X ETF, and Nvidia followed.

Surge in Super-Rich Clients

Samsung Securities announced that the total assets under custody for individual clients with over 3 billion KRW and corporate clients each surpassed 100 trillion KRW, making it the first in the industry to join the 100·100 club. This achievement is attributed to Samsung Securities’ provision of customized specialized services to activate investments by high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients. The number of super-rich clients with assets exceeding 3 billion KRW is also rapidly increasing. As of the end of June this year, Samsung Securities’ balance for ultra-high-net-worth individuals with over 3 billion KRW was 108.5 trillion KRW, a more than 57% increase from 69.1 trillion KRW at the end of 2019 over two and a half years. During the same period, corporate client assets grew from 67.6 trillion KRW to 100.3 trillion KRW. Assets deposited by Samsung affiliates were excluded from the corporate client asset figures.

The number of clients also increased by 66% and 10.1%, reaching 3,310 high-net-worth individuals and 47,526 corporations, respectively. On average, individual high-net-worth clients hold about 32.79 billion KRW each, while corporate clients hold about 2.09 billion KRW per entity.

Among ultra-high-net-worth individuals, the number of clients with financial assets between 5 billion KRW and 10 billion KRW deposited since 2019 increased the most significantly by 74.7%. By age group, those aged 60 and above accounted for 56.3%, followed by those in their 50s and 40s at 24.7% and 12.5%, respectively. This reflects the characteristic of investors accumulating wealth throughout their life cycles through their main occupations and investments. By gender, male clients increased by 15%, and female clients by 19.6%.

In terms of returns, the arithmetic average of the annual year-end balance yield from 2019 to the first half of this year was 12.8%, consistently maintaining double-digit growth. For corporations, the arithmetic average balance yield since 2019 was 3.6% annually, significantly outperforming market interest rates.

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