Fund management firms are benefiting from Korean investors' move into regular savings plans RSPs based on domestic equities, the quick rise of variable annuities and a growing appetite for international exposure. Now some players are finding ways to serve this new demand.
Franklin Templeton is developing products to provide local fund investors with exposure to international asset classes, but in won-denominated products that will resemble domestic fund structures, says Mark Browning, Seoul-based regional head for Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
So far all the international firms operating onshore in Korea offer either local product, or international-oriented funds based in jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and Dublin, which...