Hantoo Asset Management's KINDEX S&P500 ETF Surpasses 500 Billion KRW in Net Assets

Lower Fees Than US-Listed ETFs Tracking the S&P 500 Index

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Korea Investment Trust Management announced on the 18th that the net assets of the ‘KINDEX US S&P500 Listed Index Fund (ETF)’ have surpassed 500 billion KRW. As domestic investors' interest in overseas investment grows, funds are rapidly flowing in due to the advantage of lower fees compared to US-listed ETFs tracking the S&P500 index.

According to the Korea Exchange, as of the previous day's closing price, the net assets of the KINDEX US S&P500 ETF were recorded at 502.7 billion KRW. This ETF, which was listed in August last year, exceeded 300 billion KRW in net assets within one year of its launch last August and surpassed the 500 billion KRW mark within three months.

The KINDEX US S&P500 ETF tracks the ‘S&P500 index,’ which consists of 500 large-cap blue-chip stocks representing the US market. The S&P500 index broadly reflects the US industry and economy and is considered one of the three major indices of the New York Stock Exchange alongside the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index. It has high composition weights in Microsoft (6.40%), Apple (5.94%), Amazon.com (3.87%), Alphabet A (2.23%), and Tesla (2.15%) (based on the index as of the 16th). It also includes financial and consumer goods companies and real estate firms representing the traditional US economy, such as Berkshire Hathaway B (1.27%), JP Morgan (1.20%), Johnson & Johnson (1.04%), and Home Depot (0.96%).

Korea Investment Trust Management launched the KINDEX US S&P500 ETF in August last year with a total fee of 0.09% to meet the rapidly increasing demand for direct overseas stock purchases among domestic investors. At that time, it was the lowest fee in the industry. In November of the same year, the total fee was further reduced to 0.07%. This is even lower than the total fee (0.0945%) of the ‘SPDR S&P500 ETF,’ the largest ETF tracking the same index listed in the US market.

Jung Sung-in, head of the ETF Strategy Team at Korea Investment Trust Management, explained, “As ETF investments using pension savings and retirement pension accounts increase significantly, the low-fee KINDEX US S&P500 ETF has emerged as an attractive option for investors seeking long-term investment destinations. Among domestic institutional investors who previously invested directly in overseas-listed products, there is a growing trend to utilize domestically listed overseas ETFs recently.”

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