South Korean pension giant National Pension Service (NPS) has appointed Kim Tae-hyun as chief executive officer to succeed Kim Yong-jin, who stepped down at the end of his three-year term on April 18.
He is taking the helm of the world’s third largest pension fund at a tough time, when global financial markets are grappling with challenges on multiple fronts, including rate hikes by central banks to fight inflation.
Kim was previously chairman and president of state-run Korea Deposit Insurance Corp (KDIC). His appointment was effective September 2 and, like his predecessor, he will also serve for three years.
He will primarily be responsible for improving the NPS’s investment returns, the Ministry of Health and Wealth, which supervises the fund, says in a statement on September 1 announcing the appointment.
It comes two days after the NPS reported an investment loss of 8% in the first half of 2022, after posting an average return of more than 10% over the past three years. The pension fund blamed the loss on global equity and bond market declines triggered by rate hikes and geopolitical tensions.
The NPS had 882.7 trillion won (US$654.12 billion) of assets under management as of June 2022, down from 908.3 trillion won a year ago.
