Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.
KB, Hana set for competition in Singapore's asset management market
By Anna J. Park
By Anna J. Park
As Hana Financial Group is on its way to setting up an asset management company in Singapore sometime within this year, attention is now on whether the Southeast Asian country is emerging as a new battleground for Korean financial giants' overseas expansion. Singapore's attractiveness among Korean financial companies has increased, as Hong Kong's long-held status as Asia's financial hub could be facing further risks over geopolitical concerns.
Hana Financial Group is currently in the process of obtaining a license to open its asset management company in Singapore. A company official said the group aims to complete the licensing process within the first half of this year.
Market watchers believe Hana's attempt to expand into Singapore's asset management market coincides with the group's long-term goal of growing into one of the world's top 40 global financial institutions by 2025. Hana also plans to expand its overseas profits to account for up to 40 percent of its total profits, from the current level of around 21.7 percent. The financial group is also said to be considering an option of acquiring a local asset manager to further increase its presence in Singapore, once the new subsidiary is stabilized, hoping to create a synergy effect in global businesses.
Hana's plan to expand into the Singaporean market could be met with competition there from KB Financial Group, which was the first major Korean financial group to set foot in the asset management market in the Southeast Asian country.
KB Financial Group, which has already been operating an asset management subsidiary there since 2017, has been running a long-short mutual fund worth $58 million, investing mainly in key Asian markets. The financial group plans to expand its Singapore-based mutual funds, while aiming to upgrade its financial business license to a higher grade, which does not limit the size of the assets under management (AUM).
KB Asset Management's expansion into the Singaporean market will likely be strengthened, as KB Financial Group places greater focus on a two-track strategy for its global business plan ― placing the same priorities in both developed markets and Southeast Asian countries. Singapore is not only home to major global asset managers' Asian headquarters, but also provides a gateway to emerging markets in the region.
“The company will build a broad business portfolio in the Asian market, ranging from real estate, infrastructure investment, private debt to private funds,” KB Asset Management CEO Lee Hyun-seung said.