By Kim Da-ye
Is it purely coincidence or an obvious act of rivalry?
Mirae Asset Global Investments and Samsung Securities are hosting major annual events on the same day, inciting speculation that a popularity contest will take place outside the bourse.
On May 12, Mirae Asset’s 8th Global Asset Allocation Forum is slated to take place at Lotte Hotel in central Seoul. The event will focus on the new trends in asset allocation after the financial crisis.
Also on the same day and continuing the following day, Samsung Securities has planned the 2011 Samsung Global Investors’ Conference on the theme of the “Korean Financial Market _ Reshaping Inclusive Growth” at the Hotel Shilla in Seoul.
Industry watchers believe coincidence is not the case and that the two brokerages are competing in more hostile ways than in the past to attract more influential people.
Key speakers for the Mirae Asset forum have been known to include high ranking officers from Morgan Stanley and Towers Watson.
Last week, Samsung said that around 500 domestic and overseas institutional investors including Fidelity, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Samsung Asset Management would attend its conference.
About 80 Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics and KB Financial Group are also participating to arrange nearly 700 individual meetings with investors.
Samsung has invited Financial Services Commission (FSS) Chairman Kim Seok-dong as a guest speaker on major issues in the Korean financial markets and Jun Kwang-woo, head of the National Pension Fund (NPS), will discuss investment strategies of the pension fund and the importance of global cooperation.
When contacted a Mirae Asset employee said that it is unlikely and intentionally arranging the two events on the same day was impossible because organizers book high-profile guest speakers several months in advance. He added that his company has hosted the forum in May since 2004.
A Samsung Securities official echoed the denial, refuting the speculation on the rivalry, saying that the two events are different in character and target alternative guests.
“We have arranged this conference for the last eight years to invite our customers including foreign investors and to facilitate interaction with Korean companies. There are no covert intentions as to why we are happening to host the event on the same date,” he said.
Mirae Asset and Samsung are close competitors, particularly in wrap account and exchange-traded fund (ETF) sectors.
Last February Mirae Asset slashed annual fees for wrap account products from 3 percent of the investment to 1.9 after group Chairman Park Hyeon-joo vowed to take the lead in bringing down charges across the industry.
Park said that the 3-percent fees for advisory wrap products were too high considering that the interest rate had reached 4 percent and that anyone could identify which stocks are being bought by managers. The media interpreted the remark as being directed at industry leader Samsung Securities.
Samsung’s CEO Park Chun-hyeon responded in a meeting with journalists that his firm would focus on advisory roles and customers services rather than joining the fee-cutting competition.
The second round of confrontation took place in April, and involved fees for ETFs.
On April 15 Mirae Asset MAPS Global Investments dropped the fees for TIGER ETFs from 0.34 percent to 0.15 percent, the lowest rate in the industry, while Samsung Securities, the leader in the ETF sector, charges 0.35 percent.
Mirae Asset now boasts the highest number of ETFs at 34 after listing 11 in early April. The firms’ products cover agricultural futures, crude futures and Latin American stocks to even shares of Hyundai Motor Group.
Just two days later, Samsung announced an innovative service that allows customers to withdraw their investments and refund any involved fees and commission within five days from the date of purchase.
Furthermore, if customers feel the sale of products were without sufficient explanation, they can cancel the purchase to get back the principle within 15 days.