Public Offering Fund Sales Balance Surpasses 300 Trillion Won

MMFs Account for 55.5% with 166.9 Trillion Won

The balance of public offering funds has surpassed 300 trillion won for the first time.

On September 1, the Korea Financial Investment Association announced that the balance of public offering funds reached 300.5039 trillion won as of the end of July.

The fund sales balance refers to the total amount of funds sold through financial institutions such as securities firms and banks, including their branches and online websites, excluding funds traded on the listed market such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate funds, and special asset funds.

Public offering funds are open to the general public, and the sales balance increased by 67.5 trillion won over the past year, rising about 29.0% compared to approximately 233 trillion won at the end of 2024.

By fund type, money market funds (MMFs) accounted for about 166.9 trillion won, representing 55.5% of the total public offering fund balance. This was followed by bond funds at 50.4 trillion won and equity funds at 28 trillion won.

By financial institution, securities firms recorded approximately 195.4 trillion won, accounting for 65.0% of the total sales balance. Banks followed with 93.8 trillion won (31.3%), and insurance companies with 3.9 trillion won (1.3%).

By customer type, financial institution corporations, driven by retirement pensions and corporate MMFs, accounted for about 166.6 trillion won, making up the largest share at 55.4%. Individuals followed with 78.7 trillion won (26.2%), and general corporations with 55.2 trillion won (18.4%).

Among individual investors, MMFs accounted for the largest share at about 19.8 trillion won (25.1%), but equity funds were similar in size at 19.5 trillion won (24.8%).

Including the private equity fund sales balance of 692.7409 trillion won, the total sales balance reached 993.2448 trillion won.

The number of public offering fund accounts stands at approximately 35.71 million, far exceeding the roughly 90,000 private equity fund accounts, and the scale continues to reach new monthly highs.

Lee Hwantae, head of the Industry and Market Division at the Korea Financial Investment Association, stated, "Public offering funds are attracting attention, backed by favorable domestic and international stock markets and expectations for government policies that are friendly to the capital market," adding, "The activation of capital markets, including public offering funds, will promote capital supply to companies and lead to the strengthening of productive finance."

Including listed funds such as ETFs, the total fund market size in Korea reached approximately 1,290 trillion won in net asset value (NAV) as of the end of July, divided into 569 trillion won in public offering funds and 721 trillion won in private equity funds.

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