[2024 Asia Fund Awards] Financial Supervisory Service "Will Support Strengthening Competitiveness of Public Offering Funds"

Congratulatory Speech by Ham Yong-il, Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service

Ham Yong-il, Deputy Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service / Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

We sincerely congratulate the hosting of the '15th Asia Fund Awards' ceremony and extend our gratitude to Woo Byung-hyun, CEO of Asia Economy, and all related personnel for organizing this meaningful event. We also congratulate the executives and employees of the financial companies who have received awards today.

Last year was particularly challenging, with increased volatility across the financial markets due to high interest rates, high inflation, and geopolitical risks. We pay tribute to your sweat and dedication in striving for the sound development of the fund industry despite this uncertain environment.

Our asset management industry has seen fund sizes grow by more than 10% annually over the past five years, reaching assets under management of 1,000 trillion won. However, the environment surrounding the asset management industry remains difficult due to the global high interest rate persistence causing major countries’ growth slowdown and weakened investment sentiment, as well as domestic low growth and consumption sluggishness caused by aging.

The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), represented by the global stock market’s 'Magnificent 7' (MS, Apple, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, Tesla), and accelerated technological innovation are bringing structural changes across industries. These changes in the financial environment and industry lead us to expect the fund industry to move beyond past quantitative growth and advance toward qualitative growth for the future.

Accordingly, the Financial Supervisory Service will support the asset management sector to achieve innovative growth in line with the rapidly changing environment and industrial structure. First, to strengthen the competitiveness of public funds, we plan to reform the sales companies’ fee system to be performance-oriented and promote innovation in related organizations and infrastructure, such as digitizing the operation of beneficiary general meetings.

We will also simplify registration requirements for foreign funds intended for institutional and professional investors and ensure efficient business processing through rapid product launches. In addition, we will strive to prepare various institutional improvements and infrastructure enhancement plans related to the asset management industry.

Meanwhile, the industry itself must also make efforts to enhance professionalism and responsibility as good managers of customer assets. With pride in leading the capital market and

a sense of mission to help investors plan their futures, we urge you to do your best to build customer trust.

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