Police fund to appoint equities specialist as CIO

South Korea's Police Mutual Aid Association (PMAA) has picked Han Jong-seok, a former chief investment officer of Meritz Asset Management Co. and equities portfolio manager of KTB Asset Management Co., as its new CIO.

At a Friday board meeting, PMAA decided to appoint Han to fill the position left vacant for almost one year, according to investment banking sources. He will be installed as CIO of the $3 billion savings fund of police officers, upon approval by Korea National Police Agency's Commissioner-general Kim Chang Yong.

Born in 1967, the incoming CIO is currently working as chief financial officer of Seoul-based K-Fin Asset Management Co.

Prior to moving to K-Fin Asset, he had headed Meritz Asset Management as CIO and led the equities portfolio at KTB Asset Management Co. as director. The MBA of Seoul National University also had managed Shinhan Bank's proprietary fund as equities head.

His professional background compares with that of his predecessor Lee Do-yoon, a fixed-income expert. Lee, currently CIO of the Yellow Umbrella Mutual Aid Fund, retired at the end of October 2020 after a four-year term, during which he had increased the police fund's risk spectrum toward distressed and mezzanine assets. 

With 3.7 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in assets as of end-2020, PMAA posted an average return of 5.2% on investments in 2020, versus 5.5% in the previous year.

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