This week in asset owner history: Korea's Teachers’ Pension gets new CIO
Korea’s Teachers’ Pension (TP) in 2017 appointed Park Dae-yang, or David Park, as chief investment officer (CIO) to oversee the management of then W13 trillion ($11 billion) of assets under management.
He officially began his two-year tenure on January 2, 2017, replacing former CIO Park Min-ho. Park Dae-yang was a former CIO at Allianz Life Insurance until mid-2016.
The move was reported by AsianInvestor in February.
He was one of six candidates out of 28 applicants shortlisted by KTPF’s four-person interview board in early December. They had previously conducted a public recruitment process for the role rather than accept recommendations from the executive recommendation committee.
A key consideration when it came to filling the CIO position was the ability to generate positive returns over the long-term.
During AsianInvestor’s 13th Institutional Investment Forum Korea, held in Seoul on April 10, 2019, Park Dae-yang said that the then W17.4 trillion ($15.3 billion) TP planned to increase the fund’s overall overseas exposure by one third to 40% by 2023.
When AsianInvestor visited him at the TP office also in April, Park Dae-yang said that the overseas investments increase would also include a higher share of alternatives in total AUM.
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Park Dae-yang later went on to become CIO of Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, in June 2019.
After serving a three-year term, Park Dae-yang stepped down in August 2022. He was replaced by Lee Hoon, former head of investment strategy and innovation division at KIC.
Also read: KIC's internal recruitment of new CIO seen as a wise choice
Sources within the Korean investment industry told AsianInvestor that senior investment professionals from public pension funds or KIC are barred from taking up commercial/private sector investment professional roles right after ending their terms, which in effect is a “garden leave” period.
As it is possible to take on other public sector investment professional roles, however, Dae-yang was in December 2022 reportedly a shortlisted candidate for the role of CIO at Korea’s National Pension Service, the world’s third-largest pension fund.
In late December, it was announced that this role went to Seo Won-joo. He previously served as the CIO of Government Employees Pension Service (GEPS) of Korea for three years from May 2019.
Also read: New NPS CIO ticks the right boxes