Samsung Securities Launches Industry's First Retirement Pension Robo-Advisor 'Pension S-Tok'

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji-hwan Park] Samsung Securities is launching the first retirement pension robo-advisor service in the securities industry. Following last year's announcement of free fees for non-face-to-face IRP accounts, Samsung Securities announced on the 11th that it will start the industry's first retirement pension robo-advisor service.

Samsung Securities' retirement pension robo-advisor service, "Pension S-Tok," allows defined contribution (DC) and individual retirement pension (IRP) subscribers to input their investment preferences, income, age, and more. It then categorizes them into 55 types and suggests funds and their respective weightings tailored to each type. Currently, the service provides portfolios composed of funds, but ETFs will soon be added to the recommended products to broaden the choices for pension subscribers.

Pension S-Tok is available by simply adding Samsung Securities as a Plus Friend on KakaoTalk. Once added, the service can be accessed from the bottom menu bar by clicking on Pension S-Tok. Customers with retirement pension accounts at Samsung Securities can receive recommended portfolios through the robo-advisor within KakaoTalk and complete subscriptions in a one-stop process. Additionally, they can receive portfolio adjustment alerts according to their life cycle via KakaoTalk.

Samsung Securities' Pension S-Tok classifies customer tendencies into 55 types called Pension MBTI. This classification is determined by analyzing customers' investment tendencies, income levels, age, retirement pension investment status, and investment preferences. The funds recommended in each portfolio type are selected from a pension universe of about 150 funds, carefully chosen by Samsung Securities' Portfolio Strategy Team based on past performance and the stability of the fund managers. This enhances the reliability of pension portfolios, which require long-term investment. The robo-advisor sends monthly performance reports and automatically adjusts the recommended fund allocation ratios according to market conditions and the customer's life cycle. Customers also receive alert messages to ensure they do not miss rebalancing timings, providing close management.

Simulation results of portfolios provided by the robo-advisor were also meaningful. Assuming an actively investing customer aged 55 with an annual income of 70 million KRW managed their retirement pension products according to Samsung Securities' "Portfolio" over the past 10 years (January 2012 to the end of 2021), the simulated annualized return was 6.2% (cumulative return of 82.53%). This is 1.19 percentage points higher than the KOSPI index's annualized return of 5.01% (cumulative return of 63.09%) during the same period.

Yoo Jung-hwa, head of Samsung Securities' Pension Division, said, "In a survey conducted late last year targeting retirement pension customers, 91% of DC-type and 94% of IRP subscribers responded that they find it difficult to choose retirement pension products. We prepared the retirement pension robo-advisor service to meet this need." She added, "Following last year's free non-face-to-face IRP fee policy, we expect this to greatly contribute to improving satisfaction with pension services."

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