The delegates meeting to select the new Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Public Officials Benefit Association(POBA), which manages 27 trillion won, will be held on the 22nd. It will be a contest between Huh Jang, the former CIO whose term ended in February, and Lee Do-yoon, the former CIO of the Yellow Umbrella Fund.
According to the investment banking (IB) industry on the 3rd, the operating committee, composed of Administrative Welfare Fund Chair Kim Jang-hwa and others, recently nominated former Director Huh and Lee Do-yoon as final candidates for the new CIO. It is reported that they filtered the candidates through the committee and after undergoing personnel verification by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
The delegates meeting of POBA consists of 55 members, including Chair Kim. The person who receives more than 37 votes will be elected as the new CIO. If both candidates fail to receive 37 votes, the one with the most support will undergo a vote to determine whether they will assume the position.
POBA is one of the representative public funds, managing assets totaling 27 trillion won. Last year, the return on investment assets was 9.1%, which is 4 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Mr. Huh has been praised for enhancing both growth and stability since taking office as CIO of POBA in February 2022, leading to an expansion of managed assets. Before joining, he held various positions, including head of the securities division at Samsung Life Insurance, team leader at Samsung Asset Management’s SA Management Team, head of equity management at Prudential Asset Management (now Hanwha Asset Management), representative of Tempest Investment Consulting, and head of investment at Dongbu Insurance (now DB Insurance).
Mr. Lee, who is a bond expert with experience at Korea Investment Trust Management and Samsung Asset Management, has served as CIO of the Police Welfare Fund since 2016 and achieved the unprecedented success of reappointment in 2018. He has also been CIO of the Yellow Umbrella Fund since 2021. If he takes on the position of business director at POBA, he will set a record for having served as CIO for three major public funds in the country.