Kyobo Asset Management Completes Name Change, Drops 'AXA' and Strengthens Group Integration

End of an 18-Year Joint Venture
Transition to 100% Kyobo Life Insurance Subsidiary
"Power SK Group ETF" Listed on the 22nd

Kyobo AXA Investment Management has changed its name to "Kyobo Asset Management" and is making a fresh start as the core investment management company of Kyobo Financial Group.

On September 22, Kyobo Asset Management held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting and announced on September 23 that it had changed its name from "Kyobo AXA Investment Management" to "Kyobo Asset Management." This follows last month’s transition to becoming a 100% subsidiary of Kyobo Life Insurance, with the completion of the name change.

The predecessor, Kyobo AXA Investment Management, was established in September 2008 as a joint venture, with Kyobo Life Insurance and AXA Investment Managers, the asset management arm of France's AXA Group, each holding a 50% stake.

Last month, Kyobo Life Insurance acquired a 50% stake (3 million shares) in Kyobo AXA Investment Management from BNP Paribas Asset Management Holding for 107.5 billion won. With this acquisition, the joint venture structure that had been in place since 2008 has come to an end after 18 years.

Kyobo Asset Management plans to strengthen its role as a specialized asset management company within the group by leveraging the unification of its governance structure. The company aims to carry out product development, sales, and customer solutions under a consistent strategy, while also reinforcing connections with the group's financial business and Kyobo Life Insurance’s asset management division.

Kyobo Asset Management intends to enhance the group's asset management competitiveness by combining Kyobo Financial Group’s long-term client base and global network with its own equity, fixed income, and global investment expertise.

In particular, Kyobo Asset Management plans to actively expand into high-growth business areas based on its existing stable traditional asset management capabilities. The company will further strengthen its foundation to satisfy the diverse investment demands of institutional clients and broaden its personal client base, which focuses on retirement pensions, by launching a range of products, including ETFs, to grow as a comprehensive asset management platform.

As its first step, the company listed a new ETF called "Power SK Group" on the previous day, which invests in major listed companies of SK Group. The Power SK Group ETF is designed to invest in the SK Group’s shift toward a future-oriented business portfolio centered on artificial intelligence. It invests across SK Group’s entire AI ecosystem, including semiconductors, data centers, and energy.

With this product launch, Kyobo Asset Management plans to substantially expand its range of index and thematic products and nurture ETFs as a core growth pillar. The company intends to continue introducing products that reflect market changes and investor needs, thereby strengthening the competitive foundation of its ETF business.

The company will also enhance its response in the retirement pension and institutional client markets. In the retirement pension sector, it will actively utilize Power Index Funds and expand its offerings to include target date funds (TDFs), which allocate assets based on retirement timelines, as well as global equity and fixed income products.

For institutional clients, Kyobo Asset Management will strengthen active equity products in addition to fixed income, aiming to enhance its client solution capabilities.

The organization will also be restructured to align with the new growth strategy. The ETF, retirement pension, and institutional client solution divisions will be reorganized to enhance synergies between businesses and accelerate strategy execution.

A representative from Kyobo Asset Management said, "The core of this change is to organically connect our asset management capabilities with the group's financial business, thereby broadening client options. Based on the experience accumulated in managing traditional assets, we will continue to introduce products and solutions that cater to clients’ long-term investment objectives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.