Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse named NPC partners
South Korea's National Pension Corporation to give 'strategic partners' expanded role as it further diversifies asset allocation.
South Korea's National Pension Corporation (NPC) has named Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSam) and Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) "strategic partners" for its overseas investment campaign.
Officials at the NPC in Seoul say the W190 trillion ($200 billion) institution has appointed the two firms to not only manage money but provide a deeper level of training and technology transfer than is normally the case.
"We want a deeper relationship with global fund managers," says an NPC official. "We want more practical help." This extends from asset-allocation decisions to middle- and back-office support, allowing the NPC to second staff to the managers's operations for longer periods of time. "We want our staff to get hands-on experience.
The agreements may also include providing the NPC with superior information technology. In return, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are first in line for additional mandates for managing NPC assets, although they do not enjoy any exlusive relationships.
The next objective for the NPC is emerging markets. The organisation has been at the forefront of overseas investing among Korean institutions. It organised a process of awarding investment mandates to external managers for core asset classes including global equities and global fixed-income, and last year spent a lot of energy on gaining access to global private-equity and real-estate funds. But NPC officials would not say whether Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have a leg up on winning some of these mandates.
Now, having learned the ropes for investing in developed markets, the NPC wants to tap opportunities in emerging markets. It is now in the process of hiring three managers for $200 million worth of mandates in global emerging markets, using the MSCI Emerging Markets Index ex-Korea as a benchmark.
The NPC continues to use both Watson Wyatt and Mercer Investment Consulting to help draw up shortlists. In previous outsourcings it relied on both firms for assistance; now it rotates business among them, and also uses its own list of managers which it has developed through its recent experiences.
Officials at the NPC in Seoul say the W190 trillion ($200 billion) institution has appointed the two firms to not only manage money but provide a deeper level of training and technology transfer than is normally the case.
"We want a deeper relationship with global fund managers," says an NPC official. "We want more practical help." This extends from asset-allocation decisions to middle- and back-office support, allowing the NPC to second staff to the managers's operations for longer periods of time. "We want our staff to get hands-on experience.
The agreements may also include providing the NPC with superior information technology. In return, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are first in line for additional mandates for managing NPC assets, although they do not enjoy any exlusive relationships.
The next objective for the NPC is emerging markets. The organisation has been at the forefront of overseas investing among Korean institutions. It organised a process of awarding investment mandates to external managers for core asset classes including global equities and global fixed-income, and last year spent a lot of energy on gaining access to global private-equity and real-estate funds. But NPC officials would not say whether Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have a leg up on winning some of these mandates.
Now, having learned the ropes for investing in developed markets, the NPC wants to tap opportunities in emerging markets. It is now in the process of hiring three managers for $200 million worth of mandates in global emerging markets, using the MSCI Emerging Markets Index ex-Korea as a benchmark.
The NPC continues to use both Watson Wyatt and Mercer Investment Consulting to help draw up shortlists. In previous outsourcings it relied on both firms for assistance; now it rotates business among them, and also uses its own list of managers which it has developed through its recent experiences.
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