National Pension Service raises target allocation to domestic stocks; fund1,500trillion won milestone surpassed

National Pension Service Chairman Kim Seong-ju said the target allocation to domestic stocks would be raised. Chairman Kim explained that the measure was intended to generate long-term returns, not to support the stock market in the short term. He said the timing and scale of specific changes would be decided later by the investment management committee.

The National Pension Service1reported a quarterly return of 4.42%. The announcement stated that the effects of the war in the Middle East had affected returns. The fund explained the relevant figures in accordance with its procedure for disclosing quarterly performance.

Fund reserves exceeded 1,500trillion won for the first time. The National Pension Service confirmed the increase in the fund’s size in its quarterly report. The reserve amount is used as a basis for future asset allocation decisions.

Chairman Kim explained that increasing the share of domestic equities was a measure to reduce the impact of selling. The company said it was reviewing detailed implementation plans to ease the concentration of selling. It said the changes would be introduced in stages in accordance with its investment management rules and internal procedures.

Meanwhile, cases were also reported in which executives at some companies made substantial gains on their own company’s shares. According to reports, the returns on shares held by executives at Samsung and Hynix reached as much as400%. Disclosures and compliance with insider trading regulations were also mentioned in this connection.

NH Nonghyup Financial Group announced that it was accelerating its shift toward a focus on retirement pension returns. The company said retirement pension performance in its banking and securities divisions ranked among the top in the industry. It added that changes to its retirement pension management strategy were being reflected in the performance of related products.