Korea Investment & Securities Co. said on the 20th that the number of individual retirement pension (IRP) subscribers reached about 523,000 as of the first quarter, the highest in the securities industry.
IRP subscribers, which were around 473,000 at the end of last year, increased by some 51,000 in three months. During the same period, IRP reserves rose from 743.02 billion won to 881.35 billion won, up 138.33 billion won. The growth rate of reserves was 18.6%, the highest across the entire financial sector.
The company pointed to high returns as a strength. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL)'s "default option key status," Korea Investment & Securities Co.'s default option "aggressive investment type BF1" product ranked No. 1 in returns in the securities industry for eight consecutive quarters. As of the first quarter this year, the one-year return was 26.62%.
It also built a digital environment for investor convenience. It launched, for the first time in the industry, an "automatic ETF installment investment service" that automatically buys exchange-traded funds (ETF) at the frequency and amount customers want, and as of the 14th of this month it offers 965 exchange-traded fund products.
Choi Jong-jin, head of pension innovation at Korea Investment & Securities Co., said, "As the retirement pension market environment has shifted from the traditional defined benefit (DB) model to one centered on defined contribution (DC) and IRP, how much differentiated service we provide to customers, who are the principals of management, has become more important," adding, "We will further strengthen our integrated pension management system and consulting capabilities through meticulous analysis of customer needs and ongoing communication."