Eugene Asset Management Partners with Plain Vanilla and Kraft to Establish 'OCIO Fund'

by Lee Jungyun

Published 20 Apr.2022 09:48(KST)

Eugene Asset Management Partners with Plain Vanilla and Kraft to Establish 'OCIO Fund'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Eugene Asset Management announced on the 20th that it has signed a strategic business agreement with Plain Vanilla Investment Advisory and Kraft Technologies to establish an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) fund.

This business agreement was arranged to integrate Plain Vanilla's investment analysis capabilities and Kraft's AI technology into the OCIO fund that Eugene Asset Management is preparing. Based on this agreement, Eugene Asset Management plans to provide a sophisticated and optimized retirement pension investment solution starting in May by utilizing Kraft's AI-powered top-down approach combined with Plain Vanilla's investment analysis expertise in a bottom-up approach.

Plain Vanilla is an investment advisory firm specializing in pension portfolio provision by sharing investment solutions. As of the end of last year, it holds approximately 929.4 billion KRW in advisory assets through collaboration with numerous institutional investors and asset managers, and actively provides advisory services via blogs and online platforms. The public EMP fund currently under its advisory recorded the largest market net asset value of 600 billion KRW as of the 12th of this month.

Kraft is a global AI enabler that provides asset management solutions to numerous domestic and international financial companies based on its proprietary AI technology. It also operates the first AI technology-based Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. Recently, Kraft received an investment of 170 billion KRW from the SoftBank Group, further establishing its recognition as an AI-based fintech company in the market.

The three companies held a business agreement ceremony for the establishment of the OCIO fund yesterday, attended by Eugene Asset Management CEO Jin Young-jae, Plain Vanilla CEO Kim Kyung-sik, and Kraft CEO Kim Hyung-sik.

Jin Young-jae, CEO of Eugene Asset Management, stated, "Retirement pensions serve as a safety net to ensure individuals' comfortable old age, and achieving stable returns from a long-term perspective is of utmost importance. Therefore, we pursued collaboration with Plain Vanilla, whose investment analysis capabilities have been verified, and Kraft, a leader in AI investment solutions." He added, "The OCIO fund that Eugene Asset Management is preparing will be the first domestic attempt to divide specialized roles, making it the optimal investment vehicle for corporate defined benefit (DB) retirement pensions and individual retirement fund management."