South Korea’s Military Mutual Aid Association (MMAA), which managed 10.4 trillion won ($7.7 billion) in assets as of the end of 2023, said on Monday it is hiring a new chief investment officer (CIO) for the financial investment division.
The new CIO will be responsible for investment strategies for mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt. The chief will take office in May, subject to approval by the fund’s board and Korea’s defense minister.
The CIO should have at least 15 years of experience in one or more of the areas such as financial investment, research, investment strategy and risk management, as well as at least two years of experience as an executive in financial investment. The new chief’s term of office is three years, with a possibility of a consecutive one-year term.
Lee Sang-hee, the current CIO for financial investment who took office in May 2021, will be eligible to serve another three-year term if elected. But it might not be easy for Lee to be elected again under the leadership of board chair Jung Jae-kwan, who became the chair in January 2023.
MMAA has a CIO for each financial investment and real asset. The chief of the financial investment division represents the retirement fund’s overall investment strategy.
The CIO for real asset is Kim Yong-seok. He became the construction division chief in August 2023, overseeing real estate and infrastructure investment.
The retirement fund for military personnel posted a total return of 10.9%, collecting 858.7 billion won profit from investment last year.
The fund allocates 8 trillion won to alternative investment among its 10.4 trillion won asset under management (AUM) as of end-2023. Some 46% of the alternative assets are in overseas markets. The fund aims to increase exposure to the alternative asset to 77% of the AUM by the end of 2026.
Write to Byeong-Hwa Ryu at [email protected]
Jihyun Kim edited this article.
