Korea Investment Management ETF Drops 'Kindex' and Adopts 'Ace'

Strengthening Brand Power
Determined to Seize the Explosively Growing ETF Market
Bae Jaekyu: "We Will Change the ETF Game with 'ACE'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Korea Investment Management (KIM) is making a bold move to change its exchange-traded fund (ETF) brand name from ‘KINDEX’ to ‘ACE’. Changing a brand that has been used since 2008 is interpreted as a determination to seize the winning position in the explosively growing ETF market.

On the 14th, Bae Jae-gyu, CEO of KIM, held a press conference on the ETF brand change and stated, "We will change the game of investment with ACE ETFs and contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of the Korean financial industry."

CEO Bae emphasized, "My mission is to make KIM the best company," adding, "The most fundamental starting point to achieve this mission is the success of KIM’s ETFs." Through this rebranding, KIM plans to strengthen its brand power in the ETF market and expand its touchpoints with customers.

CEO Bae is the person who first listed an ETF in Korea in 2002 at Samsung Asset Management (Samsung AM). At that time, KIM and Samsung AM listed ETFs as a consortium. They jointly used the brand ‘KODEX’, but changed it to ‘KINDEX’ starting in 2008.

KIM’s new ETF brand ‘ACE’ carries multidimensional meanings. It refers to the title ‘ACE’ given to a highly skilled and reliable player. It also embodies the meanings of ‘A Client Expert’ and ‘Accelerate Client Experience’.

The future business direction of Korea Investment Management’s ETFs can be summarized as ‘head-on competition’. Kim Chan-young, Head of Digital ETF Marketing at KIM, said, "KIM will not avoid competition with top asset managers by targeting niche markets or searching for intangible blue oceans." This means that while launching products similar to those of competitors, they intend to shake up the market by competing in a different way.

The domestic ETF market currently stands at about 76 trillion won but is expected to grow to around 200 trillion won in five years. The introduction of default options for retirement pensions in July is expected to cause rapid growth in the pension market, intensifying competition in the ETF market. This is why KIM is focusing on the ETF market, even going so far as to change its brand.

Earlier this year, KIM recruited CEO Bae and reorganized its ETF business structure. The biggest change is in marketing. CEO Bae brought in Head Kim Chan-young and established the Digital ETF Marketing Division in June. Unlike in the past, product development and marketing have become more important than asset management.

CEO Bae emphasized, "ETFs have now established themselves as the most important core investment tool in the financial market," adding, "We will set a new imperative to truly pursue customer value in the Korean capital market and thereby enhance customers’ wealth."

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