South Korea’s asset management industry assets grew to a record high at mid-year though the number of profitable managers dropped and revenues declined, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
The 471 Korea-registered managers had 1,612.2 trillion won (US$11.13 trillion) of combined assets, including 604.1 trillion won of discretionary assets, as of June, up 11.7% from 1,443.4 trillion won a year ago, the FSS says in a report on August 27.
Assets rose 2.8% from 1,568.3 trillion won in March.
Public and private fund assets overseen by the managers grew 14.3% year-on-year to 1,008.1 trillion won, driven by bond, equity and hybrid funds.
In the second quarter, 266 asset managers or 56.5% of the total were in the black. Although the share was slightly up from 56.2% in the first quarter, it was a setback compared to the 61.7% that were profitable in the whole of 2023.
The industry’s operating revenues dropped to 1.31 trillion won in the second quarter from 1.36 trillion won in the first three months of the year.
“The Financial Supervisory Service will consistently monitor the fund market in response to interest rate decisions by central banks at home and abroad and major economic indexes,” the FSS says.
