Mirae Asset’s Strategy Session in Shanghai

Investment fund plans to kick-off retail sales of its fund in advanced financial markets starting with U.S.

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo declared this year as the initial year for Mirae Asset Financial Group’s global management during a meeting of the group’s key executives in Shanghai on March 26, said officials of Mirae Asset recently.
During the group’s 1st Mirae Asset Financial Group Global Management Forum, more than 20 of the group’s top officials assembled in the Chinese city and approved the group’s performance results for 2009 and mapped out strategies for this year. For the first time, all of the group’s top executives were assembled in the second largest city in China at the meeting, the group said. CEO Park said this is a very important year for the group, as retail financing will be launched in the United States, the largest financial market in the world, and the group will also seek to set up an asset management firm in China as Mirae Asset takes off on a global tour as borders come down around the world.
The chairman has been staying in Hong Kong to direct the group’s efforts to set up a local Mirae Asset office in Shanghai.
The group chose Hong Kong as its center of global operations as many large global financial funds are located in the city, Mirae Asset officials said. Mirae will launch retail sales of its emerging market funds to individual customers in the United States and the EU countries in the first half of this year. Great Britain will be the base of its retail activity in Europe as soon as the company concludes various agreements with its sales agents to add to the 200 billion won worth of its funds sold overseas.
The following is information about the financial group: The four businesses within the Mirae Asset Financial Group have their own unique traits and specialties. Yet, each works closely with its sister companies to achieve synergistic results for the group and clients.
Asset Management
The company is a full service asset management company specializing in mutual funds, beneficiary certificates and alternative investment products such as private equity funds (PEFs), property funds and infrastructure funds.
Securities
Mirae offers comprehensive wealth management, consulting, brokerage and investment banking services, all based on the company’s extensive knowledge and ongoing research into global investment opportunities. Mirae is currently expanding its network to new markets around the world, with an emphasis on the private banking segment.
Life Insurance
Mirae provides its clients with peace of mind through a range of products including variable life insurance, ordinary life insurance and retirement pensions.
Capital
Mirae provides initial funding to promising startups, especially in high-value-added, knowledge-based industries.
“I would rather be the biggest giver in Korea than the richest,” declared Chairman Park Hyeon-joo when he launched the Park Hyeon-joo Foundation back in 2000, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on March 31.
He set up the foundation with 7.5 billion won of his own money, which was equivalent to the capital fund of Mirae Asset Financial Group then. The founder declared last year that he would not receive the annual dividend from the foundation’s earnings, adding that the foundation would go a long way in creating capitalism that cares.
The foundation set aside 16 billion won this year and plans to donate 12 billion won for scholarships for students from poor households totaling 1,400, which is a huge increase compared to just 60 million won that the foundation gave away during the initial years of its founding. The overseas student exchange program is one of the programs that the foundation is operating to give scholarships to a number of students who cannot afford to go to school overseas although they are qualified, and the foundation will pay the travel, lodging and tuition expenses for some 850 students this year as it did for 650 last year and 397 in 2008. Chairman Park plans to have Mirae Asset’s overseas affiliates do likewise in their host countries in order to upgrade the group’s image globally as a financial group that leads investments in emerging market countries. nw

Chairman Park Hyeon-joo of Mirae Asset Financial Group.