By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
Korea Post plans to increase its investment in Asian markets and diversify its portfolio, by investing one trillion won more on the local stock market, and 800 billion won overseas.
``We will compose our asset portfolio with risky assets, safe assets and overseas assets. Overseas investment has become a new option for us,'' said Lee Sang-moo, the manager of Korea Post's asset management team, at a conference Friday.
Lee said they are seeking new opportunities in overseas fund investment. ``We used to invest only in the local market, but such a simple diversification of the portfolio limited to the local market is meaningless in this globalized era,'' Lee said. ``We'll adopt various investment tools such as private equity funds or real estate.''
He said they are especially eying the Asian market for its growth potential. He explained that its enormous population shows there will be a tremendous supply of capital, which is the growth engine of the region. Korea Post allotted 500 billion won to invest in overseas bond type funds, and 370 billion won has already been invested _ 200 billion won in Asian markets. It has 58 trillion won assets as of May in deposits and insurance.
Lee said they plan to increase the ratio of local stocks in Korea Post's portfolio to 5 percent from the current 3 percent, which means 1 trillion won more should be invested in the stock market.