Manulife Asset Management has obtained a landmark license in Korea and has appointed another senior executive to help drive business development.

The Canadian asset manager has obtained a Cross Border Investment Advisory license in Korea and has hired Peter Kim, managing director, head of institutional sales, Korea.  

Based in Hong Kong, Kim started with the company in July and reports to
James Chen, head of institutional sales and relationship management,
Asia. He was most recently director of Lapis Global Limited, based in
Hong Kong. Before that he was vice-president of Woori Global Markets
Asia Limited. 

Today’s announcement follows earlier news that Manulife Asset Management hired heads of asset allocation and product development in Asia.

Michael Dommermuth, president of Manulife Asset Management Asia said: “Korea is the second largest institutional asset management market in Asia, growing at 14 per cent and forecast to reach KRW320 trillion by 20151. In addition, we are seeing considerable interest from institutional investors to step up portfolio diversification and outsource their investments through the appointment of investment managers or advisors."

He added that the proportion of outsourced assets under management for the retirement segment, which holds almost a third of total investable institutional assets, has grown from 9.7 per cent in 2006 to 19.9 per cent in 5 years, making Korea a strategically important market.

James Chen said: “We have identified three major interest areas from
institutional investors looking for enhanced portfolio diversification,
namely China, alternative asset classes and income-oriented solutions.”