South Korea's National Pension Service, Jeonju, announced a hiring program to strengthen its ability to manage its fast-growing pool of assets.
The world's third-largest pension fund, with 860.3 trillion won ($764.1 billion) in assets as of Feb. 28, in a posting on its website listed 54 asset management positions it is looking to fill as part of a "growth strategy program" to foster asset management expertise "for the era of 1,000 trillion won in funding."
NPS, in an annual report released in August, said the investment staff of its money management arm, National Pension Service Investment Management, numbered 280 as of the end of 2019.
The announcement pledged to provide recruits with a methodical training program in asset management, including on-the-job training with postings both at home and abroad.
The 54 positions to be filled are composed of:
- Four management strategy positions for areas such as portfolio analysis, asset allocation strategy and tactical asset allocation.
- Six positions for domestic equities and six for overseas equities.
- Three for domestic bonds and three for overseas bonds.
- Seven positions for private equity and venture capital investments, six roles in real estate and six in infrastructure investments.
- Four responsible investment positions.
- Six positions in risk management, two roles in fund information and one position in legal affairs.
An NPS spokeswoman couldn't immediately be reached to confirm whether the 54 recruits would be additions to the fund's investment staff or instead whether some would be replacements for positions left vacant.
The move in early 2017 of the fund's headquarters to Jeonju — a more than three-hour drive from Seoul — as part of a government program to alleviate the concentration of the country's economic and government operations in the capital led to an exodus of staff reluctant to leave the metropolis.
