S.Korea’s NPS taps investment strategy head as NY office chief

South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) is slated to undergo a management reshuffle for the first time since Chief Investment Officer Seo Won-joo took office last December. The reshuffle, set for April 10, aims to boost overseas investment and improve alternative asset allocation.

The pension fund said on Wednesday that it has named Park Seong-tae, managing director of investment strategy and responsible investment & governance, the new head of the New York office. 

Park has worked for NPS since 1999 when the fund management arm was established. As his current role is the second-in-command following the CIO, his appointment is understood as NPS’ move to strengthen global investments in earnest.

Lee Suc-won, who has led the domestic equity division since 2019, will replace Park as the new investment strategy managing director. Lee is the first local equity division leader that NPS externally hired. Before joining the pension fund, he worked for Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., KB Asset Management Co. and Hi Asset Management Co. in Korea. 

The senior-level appointments focus on alternative investment divisions. 

Infrastructure investment head Ahn Ji-yong has been named domestic equity division chief, while Hwang Mi-ok, private market risk management leader, will replace Ahn for infrastructure.

Lee Jae-wook, the current chief of the New York office, will become the new head of the private market risk management division. External affairs division head Park Won-woong has been tapped as the new chief of the London office. 

Kwon Hyuk-jin, the current London office and European private equity head, will focus on the latter role.

CIO Seo said NPS will strive to enhance the pension fund’s overseas investments to increase profitability through the reshuffle. 

Early this month, the pension fund announced a negative return of 8.2% for 2022 in its preliminary report. It will mark NPS's worst annual performance since the fund management arm’s inception in 1999.

Its equity and bond investments were hit hard last year, while alternative assets posted an 8.9% return. Despite the positive return, this was below the benchmark due to the inflation effect.

The record-low return is expected to slash NPS’ assets under management (AUM) to 890.5 trillion won ($678.2 billion) as of end-2022 from 948 trillion won as of end-2021. 

Write to Byeong-Hwa Ryu at hwahwa@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.