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CORRECTED - (OFFICIAL)-UPDATE 1-Korea Post insurance to cut duration gap
Reuters - Thursday, March 10
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(Corrects after official correction from company to add dropped word "gap" in headline, changes in fifth paragraph to "... reshuffling portfolios towards more stable returns against any fat-tail risks ..." from "... reshuffling portfolios towards cutting insurance assets' duration from neutral ... " and adds dropped words "...much shorter than its liability duration" in eighth paragraph)
* To cut exposure to debt, boost ratio of corp credit -CIO
* Set to boost foreign stock holdings
* Looking to foreign distressed asset-buying funds
By Kim Yeonhee
SEOUL, March 9 - Korea Post's insurance division, which manages $30 billion in assets, is moving towards shorter-dated bonds to brace for interest rate rises from as early as this week, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The state-owned postal insurance unit is expecting the Bank of Korea to raise its base rate by a quarter point to 3.00 percent on Thursday and to take it to 3.50 percent by year-end, in line with the market consensus. [ID:nTOE72602T]
"What the Bank of Korea needs to do this year is raise interest rates in the first half ... which will have three times more impact than doing so in the second half on containing inflation expectations," Chuljoong Jurng, chief investment officer of Korea Post's postal insurance unit, told Reuters in an interview.
The unit has put almost half of its assets, which are forecast to grow to 35 trillion won by the end of 2011, into domestic debt.
"Korea Post is considering reshuffling portfolios towards more stable returns against any fat-tail risks," the CIO said.
" long-dated bonds have fallen sharply and at their current coupon rates are not attractive," said Lee Nam-hun, an official of the postal insurance fund management division, said, adding he did not feel the need to aggressively add notes with maturities of 10 years and above for now.
Yields on government bonds with maturities of 10 to 20 years have decreased by about 20 basis points in the past month, whereas the yield on three-year government bonds <KRTSY3Y=KQ> rose 11 basis points during the period.
Lee did not give the agency's target duration, but said its outsourced bonds' duration averaged 2.6 years, much shorter than its liability duration.
It is planning to reduce its exposure to fixed-income assets overall but to boost the ratio of corporate credit debt, while looking to raise holdings of alternative investments and stocks, Jurng, who joined in the postal service agency in 2008 after a stint at the former telecommunications ministry, said.
Currently, stocks make up 6.6 percent of its total assets, with foreign equity a meagre 0.1 percent that will be lifted to 1 percent this year.
"This year, we are thinking to do more in distressed ," Jurng said. Korea Post Insurance had searched for Europe-based managers to outsource its distressed asset investment in the past six months, only to find European bankruptcy laws too complicated to buy into the distressed market there.
It is now looking to the U.S. distressed asset market and also hunting for specialised foreign partners who do not belong to big global names to share research and information, Jurng said.
"We are looking for sizeable, independent houses, rather than big names. It would be good if they have stable track records, aligned interest with us and no language barriers."
Korea Post's insurance division, though it holds a fraction of Japan Post Insurance's $1 trillion in assets, posted an average 11.4 percent rise in assets in the past three years and expects the growth to stay at 5 percent going forward.
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