Hanhwa Investment & Securities Surpasses 200 Billion KRW in Bond Trading via Retirement Pension Accounts

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin]Korea Investment & Securities, a subsidiary of Korea Financial Group (President Jung Il-moon), announced on the 24th that the scale of over-the-counter (OTC) bond direct trading through retirement pension accounts has exceeded 200 billion KRW.

The OTC bond direct trading service, launched in May for defined contribution (DC) and individual retirement pension (IRP) subscribers, recorded sales of 206.4 billion KRW as of the 18th of this month. It is interpreted that retirement pension assets, which had been invested in principal-guaranteed products, are flowing into bonds due to the continuous interest rate hikes since the beginning of the year.

In fact, the proportion of principal-guaranteed products such as equity-linked bonds (ELB) and repurchase agreements (RP) invested in Korea Investment & Securities retirement pension accounts decreased from 44% at the end of April to 29% at the end of July. Cash assets, which also decreased from 26% to 17% during the same period, showed a trend of moving into bonds.

Hong Deok-gyu, head of the Retirement Pension Division, explained, “The interest rates on AA-rated corporate bonds and public bonds traded OTC are about 1-2 percentage points higher than cash assets,” adding, “Through high-interest yielding quality bonds, it is possible to improve the overall portfolio yield and diversify managed assets.”

Meanwhile, Korea Investment & Securities offers free management and operation fees to customers who open IRP accounts non-face-to-face. Customers holding accounts at branches can receive expert consultations by visiting the branch without additional fees.

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