"What matters more than the index is that you should hold asset through investing based on the force that moves the world, namely the U.S.-China hegemony."
Choi Young-jin, chief marketing officer (CMO) at Hanwha Asset Management, said this at a "PLUS ETF net worth 10 trillion won milestone press briefing" held at the Korea Exchange (KRX) in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 4th.
In addition, Hanwha Asset Management is actively pushing into the increasingly competitive active product space and will launch "PLUS K manufacturing core corporations active" this month. It also plans to list exchange-traded funds (ETFs) such as "PLUS KOSDAQ150 active" and "PLUS global copyright active" within the year.
At the press briefing, Hanwha Asset Management shared the performance of "PLUS ETF," which surpassed a net worth of 10 trillion won in a year and a half, and presented future ETF product development plans and goals.
Delivering greetings, Chief Executive Officer Kim Jong-ho of Hanwha Asset Management said, "ETFs are becoming one of the common indirect investment vehicles for people in Korea," adding, "PLUS ETF will build competitiveness that works not only domestically but also in global markets."
PLUS ETF is Hanwha Asset Management's ETF brand launched on Jul. 2024. At launch, its net worth was around the 3 trillion won range and has now nearly tripled.
CMO Choi said, "As of the 3rd, PLUS ETF's net worth is about 11.2 trillion won," and emphasized, "In three years, we will leap into a meaningful ETF player managing about 100 trillion won."
Hanwha Asset Management said it achieved growth through products targeting four investment opportunities arising from the U.S.-China hegemony competition structure: defense, artificial intelligence (AI) advanced technology, energy and resources, and currency competition.
In fact, Hanwha Asset Management's "PLUS K defense" achieved a cumulative return of 177% through last year.
Hanwha Asset Management will launch the "PLUS K manufacturing core corporations active" ETF on the 24th. The ETF focuses on domestic manufacturing stocks that benefit from supply chain realignment caused by the weakening of U.S. manufacturing capacity amid the U.S.-China hegemony race.
Not only semiconductor corporations such as Samsung Electronics but also shipbuilders like HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, defense corporations such as Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem, and energy and minerals and bio corporations are expected to be included.
At the briefing, Geum Jeong-seop, head of the ETF business division, said, "There is no country that can cover manufacturing sectors such as semiconductors, nuclear power, and bio," adding, "PLUS K manufacturing core corporations active takes the view that Korea's manufacturing will fill what the United States lacks."
Meanwhile, to launch effective products targeting retail investors, Hanwha Asset Management earlier this year created a research team within the ETF business division.
Geum said, "At least 80% of new inflows into the ETF market are all retail investors," adding, "As the U.S. ETF market grew in earnest, the key to the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index being able to keep growing almost every year was retail demand."