[Exclusive] 'KRW 2 Trillion' Small Business Retirement Pension Fund... Allocation Gap Among Managers Below 1% for Second Year

Assets in Pureun Seed expected to surpass KRW 2 trillion this month
Difference in fund allocations among managers limited to 0.72%
"Review the overall management system and improve efficiency"

Assets under the Small Business Retirement Pension Fund (Pureun Seed), a publicly managed retirement pension fund introduced in 2022 to help ensure stable retirement income for employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, have grown to around KRW 2 trillion in four years. The Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service, which operates Pureun Seed, said it would appoint dedicated fund managers and vary the amount of funds allocated to each institution to boost investment performance through competition. In practice, however, the allocation differences have remained below 1% for the second consecutive year.

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Wisang, a member of the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee. Photo courtesy of Rep. Kim’s office.

According to data from the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service obtained by the office of Kim Wisang of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, the allocation rates for Pureun Seed's dedicated fund managers from the second quarter of 2026 through the first quarter of 2027 are 50.72% for Samsung Asset Management and 49.28% for Mirae Asset Securities. With Samsung Asset Management receiving 0.72 percentage points more than the 50% benchmark, it received KRW 1.9 billion more than Mirae Asset Securities in the second quarter.

The Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service previously said that, starting last year, it would vary annual fund allocations among institutions based on their performance in the previous year to boost competition. However, after a differential allocation of 0.52% last year, the difference remains below 1% this year, limiting its impact. Last year, Samsung Asset Management received 49.48% of the allocation and Mirae Asset Securities 50.52%, with Mirae Asset Securities receiving an additional KRW 6.2 billion over the year.

Meanwhile, the fund's assets have been growing rapidly. As of September, they totaled KRW 1.9524 trillion. Given monthly inflows of KRW 80 billion to KRW 90 billion, the total is expected to exceed KRW 2 trillion in October. Some projections put year-end assets at KRW 2.2 trillion to KRW 2.3 trillion, as many businesses typically make a lump-sum payment in December. Next year, eligibility will also be expanded from businesses with fewer than 50 employees to those with fewer than 100.

"Under the current structure, it is difficult to expect meaningful differences in returns or the effects of competition," Kim said. "With the fund's assets growing rapidly, there is a need to review the entire management system more proactively and improve its efficiency."

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