Samsung Asset Exports Domestic ETF Products to US Financial Market for the First Time

by Park Soyeon

Published 16 Nov.2023 08:24(KST)

A native Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) that succeeded in the Korean market has become the first case to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the United States.

Samsung Asset Management announced on the 16th that its strategic partner, the U.S. ETF specialist Amplify, listed the ‘Amplify Samsung SOFR ETF (hereinafter SOF)’ on the NYSE on the 15th (local time), and Samsung Asset Management will be solely responsible for managing this product.

SOF is a localized version of the KODEX U.S. Dollar SOFR Rate Reactive ETF, which Samsung Asset Management first listed on the domestic stock market in March this year. This is the first time a product based on the unique management strategy of a native Korean ETF has been listed on the U.S. stock market.

The underlying KODEX U.S. Dollar SOFR Rate Reactive tracks the return of the U.S. risk-free benchmark interest rate (SOFR, Secured Overnight Financing Rate) index.

Since SOFR is a benchmark interest rate calculated daily based on the data of one-day repurchase agreement (RP) transactions secured by U.S. Treasury bonds, this product can compound the daily ultra-short-term interest rate at about 5.3% per annum (as of November 14) without loss. It has attracted high interest from domestic investors seeking stable dollar assets, surpassing 300 billion KRW in net assets within six months of its launch.

Samsung Asset Management had already launched the KODEX KOFR Rate Reactive ETF, which uses the Korean risk-free benchmark interest rate KOFR, in April last year, the first of its kind in Korea. It demonstrated the actual performance of a ‘parking-type ETF that accumulates daily profits without loss’ to investors, growing its net assets to about 4 trillion KRW and sparking a trend of parking-type products in the domestic ETF market.

Building on this successful experience, Samsung Asset Management proposed to Amplify, its strategic partner, the listing of a product using SOFR on the U.S. stock market. After review and consultation, Amplify submitted a listing application to the NYSE in August, with Samsung Asset Management’s U.S. local subsidiary directly managing the product.

With this SOF listing, Samsung Asset Management recorded the first case of exporting a domestic ETF to the U.S. market and became the first Korean asset manager to directly manage a U.S.-listed ETF entrusted to it.

Seobonggyun, CEO of Samsung Asset Management, said, “We are very proud that Amplify, our strategic partner with whom we have an active cooperative relationship, has listed a product using Samsung Asset Management’s unique ETF management strategy on the U.S. exchange, the home market of ETFs, and that Samsung Asset Management is directly managing it.” He added, “Through the newly listed SOF, we will provide our management performance to U.S. ETF investors and strive to make this an opportunity for Korean asset management companies’ capabilities to be further recognized and to grow.”

Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify, said, “Through our partnership with Samsung Asset Management, we have introduced a new product that offers timely investment opportunities to U.S. investors. We are especially pleased to list the first ETF in the U.S. market in cooperation with Samsung Asset Management.”