Employees of Global X, Mirae Asset's subsidiary managing exchange-traded funds in the U.S., stand in front of the Nasdaq MarketSite promoting an ETF product, in New York's Times Square in August, 2022. Courtesy of Mirae Asset Global Investments

Mirae Asset's global business moves are attracting market attention as the Korean government has recently been actively promoting the global competitiveness of "K-Finance" through hosting overseas investor relations events in Europe and Southeast Asia.

Since launching its global business in 2003, Mirae Asset Global Investments has continued to aggressively strengthen its proactive overseas portfolios. Its total assets under management (AUM) reached over 293 trillion won ($219 billion), as of the end of August. Considering the firm's AUM at the end of last year stood at 248 trillion won, it marks a more than 18 percent increase in the past eight months.

Forty percent of this, or 121 trillion won, is being managed in 14 overseas countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. It is the largest size of global investment in the overseas markets among Korean asset managers.

Based on successful global business, Mirae Asset Global Investments has achieved three trillion in equity capital, which marks the first time ever in the asset management industry. The firm also posted a net profit of 190.3 billion won during the first half, the only local asset manager that recorded a net profit over 100 billion won during the first six months of this year.

When Mirae Asset became the first domestic investment company to make a foray into the global market in 2003, there were some negative public perceptions in Korea that attempting to compete against global leading firms such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch was unreasonable. However, Park Hyeon-joo, the founder and chairman of Mirae Asset Financial Group, who's also the group's global strategy officer (GSO), pressed forward with his long-term vision for the global market.

Mirae Asset's global business is driven by the growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) active around the world, including in the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong. There are over 540 global ETFs operated by Mirae Asset across the world. The global ETFs' total net assets amounts to a whopping 130 trillion won, as of the end of August, which is larger than the entire domestic ETF market worth some 100 trillion won.

Mirae Asset, which first introduced the TIGER ETF in 2006, has expanded the range of choices for investors with developing various ETFs such as the TIGER US NASDAQ 100 ETF, the first Korean ETF that tracks the NASDAQ 100 index. The firm continues to lead the market's growth by timely introducing various tech-related ETFs, such as AI company-focused ETFs. It also developed the country's first ETF utilizing strip bonds.

At the same time, the firm has emerged as a global ETF management company by actively acquiring promising ETF management companies, including Canada-headquartered Horizons ETFs in 2011, U.S.-based Global X in 2018 and Australia-based ETF Securities in 2022.

“Since becoming the first domestic asset manager to take on the overseas markets in 2003, the firm has continued to put its best efforts forth during the past two decades to become a global financial company that represents Korea,” an official from Mirae Asset Global Investments said. “The firm will continue to offer competitive financial services by discovering quality assets from around the world,” the official added.