Military Mutual picks ex-Lotte Non-Life CIO as investment chief

The Military Mutual Aid Association (MMAA), an $11 billion savings fund for South Korean military officers and personnel, said on Monday it has named Lee Sang-hee, former chief investment officer of Lotte Non-Life Insurance Co., as its new investment chief.

Lee will begin his three-year term as the MMAA's CIO on May 20. His predecessor Kim Jae-dong retired last March after serving an extended four-year term.

After graduating from Yonsei University's department of sociology, the incoming CEO landed his first job as a corporate sales employee at Samsung Life Insurance Co. and worked at the insurer's New York office as a US corporate bond analyst. He also headed Samsung Life's strategic investment and equities investment divisions, before serving as the insurance firm's New York investment unit head.

In December 2014, he moved to Lotte Non-Life to spearhead its investment operations until early this year.

MMAA manages 12.7 trillion won ($11 billion) in assets as of the end of 2020, of which 8.5 trillion won is put into equities, fixed income and alternative assets.

It is targeting a 4.5% return this year, compared with last year's 6.4% and 7.8% in 2019.

This year, MMAA allocated 2.1 trillion won to new investments, aiming to boost alternatives to half of its AUM by year's end.

For real estate investment, it will look for value-added deals to balance its portfolio heavy with core and core-plus strategies, MMAA's senior alternative investment manager Jang Eun-ho told a real estate panel session during the ASK Summit 2021 hosted by The Korea Economic Daily last week.

Lee's appointment comes a few weeks after Lee Do-yoon, former CIO of the Police Mutual Aid Association (PMAA), was named CIO of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, a $13 billion savings arm of Korean small business owners. Lee will take office next month.

Write to Jun-ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.