South Korea's National Pension Service, Seoul, achieved an investment return of 9.7% in 2020, with assets growing 13.2% to 833.7 trillion won ($765.9 billion).
A translation of a document from a meeting of the fund's management committee, chaired by Kwon Deok-cheol, the country's health and welfare minister, said the preliminary return was the second-highest in the past 10 years, following 2019's 11.3% investment gain. The 2020 figure will be finalized in June.
Domestic and overseas equities and bonds outperformed the fund's benchmark, the document said. However, low interest rates and a fall in the won-dollar exchange rate limited the rise in fixed-income and overseas assets yields.
The committee also discussed environmental, social and governance issues, including pension funds' roles in responding to climate change and other natural disasters, and in preventing industrial disasters, the document said. In the first half of the year, the committee will discuss plans to add key management issues related to environmental and social issues, and to introduce strategies restricting and excluding certain investments.
