KFS forum introduces famed Korean American financiers to local investors in Seoul

Participants of the Korea Finance Society Korea Forum network before the start of the event at 63 Building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park

By Anna J. Park

The Korea Finance Society (KFS) held its annual forum in Seoul on Thursday afternoon, providing a platform of networks between successful Korean American financial experts working in the U.S. and local institutional investors in Seoul.

The 2023 Korea KFS Forum held in Seoul's financial district of Yeouido was larger than usual in terms of the number of attendants. Over 200 high-ranking institutional investors and finance professionals from the National Pension Service (NPS), the Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) as well as various financial investment firms located around Korea joined the event to build connections with the professionals from the U.S.

This year's speakers included Bank of America (BofA) Securities COO and Head of North America Mike Joo; Charlesbank Capital Partners Head of Credit and Managing Director Sandor Hau; California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Director of Private Equity Yup Kim; Providence Equity Partners Managing Director Lisa Lee; One Rock Capital Partners Co-founder and Managing Partner Tony Lee; Goodwater Capital Co-founder and Managing Partner Eric Kim; and Truist Securities Managing Director Stellar Tucker.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Financial Services Commission (FSC) Vice Chairman Kim So-young also delivered congratulatory speeches for the session.

“As the KFS is raising Korea's reputation on Wall Street, which leads the global finance, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is also trying its best to make the City of Seoul become the hub of Asia's innovative finance,” Oh Se-hoon said during a video message, adding that he hopes the forum provides a place for constructive debates for the development of financial markets.

Charlesbank Capital Partners Head of Credit and Managing Director Sandor Hau, left, speaks during a session at the Korea Finance Society Korea Forum held at 63 Building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park

The forum started off with a speech by Yup Kim, who leads private equity investment at CalPERS.

“Koreans are experiencing an interesting inflection point in every part of global finance. There's no better time than now to form a stronger partnership with Korean colleagues and build the foundation of cooperation for mutual success,” Kim said during his speech, opening up the sessions of the forum. He spoke in Korean to effectively deliver his message to local finance professionals.

Since being co-founded by Mike Joo and Sandor Hau in 2009, the KFS has served as the largest professional network of some 2,500 Korean and Korean American finance professionals in the U.S., dedicated to fostering professional, educational and mentorship networks. The KFS operates various network, mentorship and fellowship programs to help members grow into influential finance professionals in the global markets.

“The KFS aims to serve as a bridge building a meaningful network between Korean American financial professionals and institutional investors from Korea,” said Mark Kim, vice president at Anchorage Capital and president of the KFS.