Principal Global Investors: Brian Shin representing Korea at a Global Asset Management Firm
Managing KRW 760 trillion for institutional and individual clients… NPS and KTPF are two of the clients
‘Value on human first’ philosophy leads employees in long-term commitment to its Firm …
Network of Specialized Investment Groups within PGI
Investing those profits earned into Humanity by providing relief for refugees, supporting those in need during natural disasters, and also for future generations
[Cheonji ilbo=Song, Tae-Bok] PGI(Principal Global Investors) is a global asset management firm with a credit rating of A⁺⁺ that manages over USD 680 bil for institutional investors as well as various pension and retail customers across 76 nations worldwide.
PGI is well recognized for its precise and high-quality analysis on global markets and economic insights. With this background, one could easily comprehend why those various information from PGI are often being used and quoted by media such as CNN, and even from the Wall Street. PGI manages variety of asset classes such as Real Estate, Global Fixed Incomeand Global Equity in the best interest of its clients.
After meeting PGI’s Brian Shin(Head of Korea) at the officeon the 16th, we quickly realized the biased thoughts that ‘PGI would be one of those obsessed with money’ were merely a stereotype on the asset manager.
― Please introduce about yourself briefly.
After graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison (Undergraduate in Business Administration), I’ve worked in several asset management firms, and now here in PGI since 3 years ago. I am traveling frequently back and forth from Hong Kong to Seoul. Note that we’ve got 400 staffs on the ground in Hong Kong amongst almost 10,000 employees globally.
― If you could also introduce about Principal as a firm.
Mr. Larry Zipperman was a successful businessman in the field of Insurance in Iowa USA, and has established Principal in 1879 as a result of it. As a firm based in mid-west rather than a big city, PGI is widely known for ‘country-style and yet humanity comes first’ philosophy deep in its roots. Nevertheless, the quality of economic analysis with outstanding performance for clients is second to none. The NPS, KTPF and Korea Post are just three of big names of how PGI has utilized its expertise to develop business in Korea.
― What are the key characteristics of PGI?
Upon the foundation of valuing on human first, it is not surprising to find those employees in PGI who have spent more than 25 years in the firm, which is quite unusual in this rapidly evolving environment. With this, PGI is proud to earn the top spot among companies with 1,000 or more employees on an annual survey of the Best Places to Work in Money Management. (Pensions & Investments).
Having worked in different companies myself, PGI is where I truly enjoy spending my time to work. Although other firms naturally speak highly of themselves, it is not in the culture of PGI to boast of its rich tradition – rather, PGI is more interested and focused on the well-being of humanity and future generations. That is one of the few reasons why PGI has actively been participating to help others in need for help during environmental and natural disasters around the world. Clearly sharing, PGI has a long-standing commitment to corporate stewardship such as the Signatory for United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
― Please Share with us the know-how on how to perform consistently.
There is a network of specialized investment groups within PGI which all closely cooperate with each other by sharing valuable information and resources on economic trends. Precise analysis in the aftermath of Brexit is a classic example as many others predicted this eventpessimistically as the next Greek crisis; PGI on the other hand has rationally expected the market to react in a calm manner, and to rebound sooner or later, having the Greek crisis as a good lesson a few years ago already.
― A personal question, have you also enjoyed such performance yourself in PGI?
As employees of PGI, we are all entitled to contribute significant portions of our bonuses in PGI funds, and I was fortunate to realize a profit of almost 20% within 3 years.
― Which area would you recommend to an institutional investor with KRW 10 bil to allocate?
Priority would definitely be Real Estate. The reason for that is PGI’s immediate access to valuable information on Global as well as US Real Estate relative to others. Many of those investors actually rely on PGI on investing into Real Estate. New York City as an example– Norway, China and Korea are the three nations which aggressively look into the market today, which came as a surprise to myself to see Korea within the top 3 investors in the list.
Second recommendation would have to be fixed income which provides good risk-adjusted returns in this low yielding environment. PGI has shared positive information on US Fixed Income, and those who were unenthusiastic of this asset class have regretted their decisions to pass this opportunity after missing the 7-8% of absolute returns this year so far.
― What is the minimum subscription amount for retail investors to invest into Principal’s Funds?
It used to be around KRW 200 mil for individual investorsas a minimum subscription amount, but that entry barrier is lowering down. We are discussing with our business partners in the insurance sector to even abolish such guideline in order to provide the opportunity for those investors should they be interested in.
― We are aware that Bob Baur, the Chief Global Economist of PGI, will be visiting Korea this month for the first time. What would this imply to PGI and could you quickly share about him in detail?
Bob, who was the global head of trading, is a Chief Global Economist for PGI – he establishes and directs global economic policy and strategy, oversees macroeconomic and quantitative research, forecasts economic trends and anticipates market movements.
Unlike other economists who are primarily concentrated in their own respective fields, Bob has tremendous deep knowledge across all global markets from one asset class to the other, and for that reason, his opinions and researches are often being quoted by Wall Street and other famous media such as CNN and CNBC.
We have a few important client meetings in Seoul, and with Bob’s visit, this certainly is a signal of commitment to communicate more closely with the Korean investors, which would also support to grow PGI’s business in Korea going forward.