[Exclusive] Hanwha Asset Launches New ETF After 8 Months... "Entering Bond Market"

Pursuing High Interest Income
Additional Entry into Bond ETFs
Significant Shift in ETF Manager Rankings

Hanwha Asset Management is launching an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for the first time since August last year. The Hanwha ARIRANG Money Market Active ETF (tentative name) is the main product. It is a bond-type ETF that seeks excess returns compared to the Korea Asset Pricing (KAP) market-valued Money Market Fund (MMF) index.

According to the financial investment industry on the 12th, Hanwha Asset Management disclosed the prospectus (collective investment securities) for the Hanwha ARIRANG Money Market Active Securities Listed Investment Trust (Bond) on the 8th. Usually, to launch an ETF, a listing review must be applied for at the Korea Exchange, and a securities registration statement must be submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service. This process typically takes 3 to 6 months. After the securities registration statement is submitted, it usually takes about a week to list.

The Hanwha ARIRANG Money Market Active ETF being launched by Hanwha Asset Management consists of assets such as KOFR (Korea Overnight Financing Rate), call loans, corporate commercial paper, and electronic short-term bonds. It is managed with the goal of outperforming the 'KAP Market-Valued MMF Index (Total Return)' calculated and announced by KAP. This is a launch of a bond-type ETF that has recently gained popularity in the market.

A representative from Hanwha Asset Management explained, "Individual investors can expect relatively higher interest income by investing in the ARIRANG Money Market Active ETF rather than leaving their spare funds or investment waiting funds in a Comprehensive Asset Management Account (CMA) or bank parking account. Institutional investors, who require liquidity management, can also use liquidity funds or held cash to earn stable returns while flexibly managing funds with high liquidity."

Hanwha Asset Management has not launched any additional ETFs since introducing the 'ARIRANG Japan Semiconductor Materials Solactive ETF' on August 31 last year. Internally, they judged that meeting investors' needs is more important than indiscriminately launching products. Choi Young-jin, head of Hanwha Asset Management's Strategic Business Division, recently explained in an interview with Asia Economy, "We judged that it is more important to observe investors' needs and contribute to long-term asset growth rather than indiscriminately launching products."

This launch is expected to diversify the portfolio of bond-type ETFs. Hanwha Asset Management has so far had eight bond-type ETFs, including ARIRANG 10-Year Treasury Bond Active, ARIRANG Comprehensive Bond (AA- or higher) Active, ARIRANG 3-Year Treasury Futures, ARIRANG 10-Year Treasury Futures, and ARIRANG KOFR Rate. Including overseas bond-type ETFs, they operate a total of 14 bond-type ETFs.

Since they are listing a popular bond-type ETF recently, it is expected to affect the ranking of asset management companies. As of last month, the domestic ETF market size was KRW 132.8963 trillion. The first and second in net asset value are Samsung Asset Management (KRW 53.7597 trillion) and Mirae Asset Management (KRW 48.8539 trillion). Following are KB Asset Management (KRW 10.0335 trillion), Korea Investment Management (KRW 7.0215 trillion), Shinhan Asset Management (KRW 3.2104 trillion), Hanwha Asset Management (KRW 3.1392 trillion), and Kiwoom Asset Management (KRW 3.1242 trillion), with fierce competition currently ongoing in the mid-to-lower rankings.

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