Sovereign wealth fund KIC shortlists three CEO candidates

South Korean sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has shortlisted three candidates as the next chief executive officer, who will be officially appointed in September.

KIC, which managed $189.4 billion as of the end of 2023, is conducting the final round of interviews to select a successor to the current CEO Jin Seoungho, according to banking industry sources.

Among the three candidates are Park Il Young, the World Bank Group executive director for Asia and the Pacific constituency, and Yang Seok Jun, former director general for reserves management at the Bank of Korea (BOK). The next KIC chief will be selected by the fund’s CEO recommendation committee and appointed by President Yoon Suk Yeol.

“The shortlisted candidates are experts in KIC’s investments and global economy. The candidate who worked for the Ministry of Finance may be the favorite, but we should wait for the results,” an investment banking source said.

Park joined the World Bank in November 2022. He held several senior positions in international economic affairs, development finance and policy planning at the Ministry of Economy and Finance between 2017 and 2022.

He was also a senior advisor to the executive director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s office for Asia and the Pacific between 2015 and 2017. Park started his career at the finance ministry in 1994 after graduating from Seoul National University with a bachelor's degree in economics. He earned a master’s in international development policy from Duke University. 

Yang is an expert in global finance. He led the BOK’s foreign reserves management, international department, which oversees foreign exchange and global financial market research, and the planning and coordination department for the bank’s business planning and relations with the National Assembly.

Banking industry insiders said Park is most likely to be appointed as the five CEOs of KIC since 2013 – Ahn Hong-chul, Eun Sung-soo, Choi Heenam and Jin – were ex-executives at the finance ministry, which has 100% equity in the state-run fund. Former executives of the BOK have primarily taken the role of KIC’s chief risk officer.

KIC was established in 2005 to efficiently manage foreign reserves. As of the end of 2023, some 22% of its $189.4 billion in assets under management is allocated to alternative investments.

CEO Jin’s three-year term ended on May 17. His term was extended given the delay in the search for a new CEO.


Write to Ik-Hwan Kim and Byeong-Hwa Ryu at lovepen@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.