Korea Investment teams up with Fidelity, Pimco and Carlyle to enhance services

Korea Investment & Securities has signed strategic partnership agreements with Fidelity, Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) and The Carlyle Group, the brokerage said Thursday, elevating years of relationship-building with global asset managers to formal cooperation.

The agreements span research, equities, fixed income and alternative investments. Korea Investment & Securities, a subsidiary of Korea Investment Holdings, said the deals are intended to widen the range of global products available to its domestic retail clients and high-net-worth individuals.

The first was signed in London on Monday with Fidelity, which manages $7.8 trillion in assets, according to the firm's second quarter business update. Under the agreement, Korea Investment & Securities will offer Korean investors exclusive access to Fidelity research covering global macro, equities, fixed income and multiasset strategies.

The two firms are developing a joint fund investing in Korean, Chinese and U.S. technology stocks, and plan to expand distribution of Fidelity's flagship products in Korea. The agreement also covers investment education programs for the brokerage's private banking staff.

Two further agreements followed in New York on Wednesday. Pimco, which manages around $2.33 trillion, signed a memorandum of understanding covering discretionary asset management.

The two firms will also add Pimco's global market outlook and event-driven analysis to the exclusive research content on Korea Investment & Securities’ mobile trading system, expand distribution of Pimco funds in Korea and jointly develop customized products, including separately managed accounts and wrap accounts.

The agreement with Carlyle, a private equity firm the brokerage has worked with since 2023, also covers discretionary asset management. Investments will be funded through short-term money market vehicles and made according to market conditions and returns.

The brokerage said it is converting the network built through "KIS Night," an investor relations event series held in New York and Hong Kong since 2024, into commercial cooperation.

"The role of Korea Investment & Securities is not simply to bring in the products and deep insights of the world's top asset managers, but to carefully curate and deliver them in a way that meets the expectations and needs of Korean investors," CEO Kim Sung-hwan said in a statement.

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG [[email protected]]