Sharing the lecture held on February 28, 2023.

The Rise of the Korean Asset Management Sector – Another Miracle on the Han

SPEAKER: Hank Morris

SUMMARY:

The presentation will cover the rise of professional asset management in Korea. This began in the 1960s with small unit trust companies that were established to invest in Korean shares listed on the nascent Korea Stock Exchange and in bonds issued by the Korean government. The enormous industrial growth of the Korean economy was reflected in its securities markets and as a consequence, the value of assets under management in Korea grew from the equivalent of a few millions of US dollars to many billions of dollars by the 1990s, and to well over a trillion dollars in the early years of the 21st century.

BIO:

The presenter, Henry ‘Hank’ Morris, had a long career in the Korean securities and asset management sector, primarily with British securities companies and asset management companies. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was head of the British merchant bank, Kleinwort Benson’s office in Seoul, and during that period in the early 1990s, Kleinwort Benson was the lead manager of the US $100 million Korea Pacific Trust on behalf of the fund management company, Korea Investment Trust Company. Later in his career when he was with Bermuda Trust, Hank advised several UK asset management companies that were entering the Korean asset management market. In retirement from asset management, Hank remains active as a non-executive director of the Seoul Financial Forum and as a Council member and Treasurer of the Royal Asiatic Society Korea.