New Central Banking CIO for Korean SWF

(March 11, 2014) — The Korean sovereign wealth fund has appointed one of the country’s central bankers to take over the role of CIO from Lee Dong-ik, who resigned in January.

Choo Heung-Sik has been placed in charge of the Korea Investment Corporation’s (KIC) $74 billion in assets, AsianInvestor reported.

He had been head of reserves management at the Bank of Korea, after moving from holding the bank’s CIO role, before resigning last month to apply for the CIO position at the fund.

The move comes in the wake of the departure of former CIO, Lee Dong-ik, in January, who quit mid-term. Choo will be the fourth CIO of the fund, but only the second to be a native Korean since the KIC was founded in 2005.

His appointment comes just three months after the KIC brought on Hongchul Ahn as chairman of the board of directors and CEO. He has a long history in Korean and international finance and has held several wider industry positions.

Under Lee’s stewardship the KIC increased its alternatives portfolio from 0% to more than 15%. This strategy was initially launched by the previous CIO Scott Kalb.

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