Lee Hoon, head of strategy and innovation, will be promoted as the chief investment officer of Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), overseeing the management of the sovereign wealth fund through investments in traditional and alternative assets.

The Korean government on Thursday notified KIC of its decision to promote Lee. The appointment needs to be approved by the steering committee of the independent sovereign wealth fund this week.

Lee would make the second internal promotion. He has been with KIC since 2017 and heading the Strategy & Innovation Division since August 2021.

The internal promotion comes amid a drain of experts from public financial institutions. The office of the chief of real estate investment at KIC has been left vacant for nine months now. The private equity team chief also resigned recently, joining others as KIC could also be moved out of Seoul under decentralization policy.

The KIC internal choice could sway the next CIO appointment at National Pension Service as current chief Ahn Hyo-joon’s term ends this year. The world’s third largest pension fund with $560 billion in assets has been recruiting CIOs from outside.

By Kang Bong-jin and Cho Jeehyun

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