Hanwha Asset Management announced on the 23rd at the 'PLUS Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Rebranding Press Conference' held at 63 Square in Yeouido, Seoul, that it would expand its key ETF lineup, including defense stocks and high-dividend stocks, while also responding swiftly to the institutionalization of virtual assets.
Choi Young-jin, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Executive Director, took on the role of 'Director General' at the conference, saying, "We have designated PLUS defense stocks and PLUS high-dividend stocks as strategic ETFs, while bravely shouting 'Korea Value Up' to discover the 'Korea Premium' when everyone else leaves the Director General's position."
According to Hanwha Asset Management, the assets under management (AUM) when PLUS was launched at 3.6 trillion won have ballooned to 6.4 trillion won in just one year, thanks to the growth of 'PLUS defense stocks' and 'PLUS high-dividend stocks' into super-large ETFs with a net worth of over 1 trillion won.
The next step identified is digital assets. Given that discussions on virtual asset spot ETFs are underway, they stated they would respond swiftly.
Choi, the CMO, remarked, "Hanwha Asset Management has set up a dedicated department for digital assets and has been issuing research reports," adding, "We will prepare solutions related to digital assets based on the expertise we have accumulated so far."
Geum Jeong-seop, head of the ETF business division, shared the core strategy for PLUS ETFs over the next year.
Geum stated, "This year will mark the first year of addressing the Korea discount," and added, "We will expand our products centered on three axes: resolving the Korea discount, preparing for baby boomer retirements, and advanced technology themes."
In particular, there was a strong ambition to establish itself as a leading global dividends group. To this end, there are plans to promote the listing of 'PLUS U.S. High-Dividend Stocks' in September. The strategy is to apply the high-dividend stock model utilized in the domestic dividend ETF to the U.S. market to meet investor demand for capital gains.