Starting in the second half of this year, the National Pension Service will conduct compliance checks on stewardship activities. It also set the performance bonus payout rate for the fund management headquarters' executives and staff at 78.6%, considering the higher returns amid the recent stock market boom.
The National Pension Fund Management Committee said on the 2nd that it held the sixth meeting of the year at Government Complex Seoul and approved two agenda items reflecting these details.
First, the National Pension Service will prepare reports starting in the second half of this year on seven stewardship activities and 12 compliance check items by principle. The reports will be disclosed after review by the stewardship subcommittee under the fund committee. Based on this, the plan is to ensure effectiveness by linking stewardship activity evaluation results when allocating additional delegated funds or retrieving them.
On this day, the fund committee also approved the 2025 performance evaluation plan for National Pension fund management and the performance bonus payout rate plan for the fund management headquarters.
The cumulative five-year financial segment return (time-weighted return) of the National Pension Fund is 9.75%. That is 0.16 percentage points higher than the benchmark return (9.59%). The return by asset class was also 9.75%, exceeding the benchmark return (9.59%).
Returns by asset class are 11.24% for domestic stocks, 17.82% for overseas stocks, 1.39% for domestic bonds, 6.24% for overseas bonds, and 12.75% for alternative investments. Based on this, the performance bonus payout rate is 78.6%.
From this evaluation, the fund committee will apply a revamped framework following the introduction of a reference portfolio. Earlier, at the end of 2024, the performance evaluation period was changed from one year to a five-year cumulative basis so the fund can improve long-term performance. In addition, while performance was previously assessed as relative performance against the benchmark return, an absolute performance assessment was newly introduced to enhance the fund's sustainability.
Jung Eun-kyeong, Minister of Health and Welfare, said, "By introducing a compliance check framework, we expect to bring about stable profitability gains for the National Pension and positive changes in the domestic capital market," and added, "The 2025 performance reflects the fund management headquarters' nimble response to changes in domestic and overseas financial markets, significantly delaying the depletion timeline of the National Pension and strengthening fiscal sustainability."