Park Hyeon-joo, pioneer of mutual funding in Korea and founder of Mirae Asset Investment, is resigning from the chair of the country’s largest brokerage house Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. to concentrate on a global campaign for the Mirae identity.

Mirae Asset Daewoo said Wednesday that Park will take up a new title as the Global Investment Strategy Officer. Domestic operations would be run by Executive Vice Chair Choi Hyun-man and chief executives of each affiliate.

Park in March said he was relocating to Hong Kong and withdrawing himself from domestic businesses.

Mirae Asset Daewoo has been active in global outreach. It currently runs 14 overseas operations in 10 countries, with a staff of 700 in foreign outposts on total equity capital of 2.3 trillion won ($2.13 billion).

Earlier this year, Park revealed the company’s ambitious goal to grow 50 percent from the previous year to hit 1 trillion won in profit before taxes. He also shared the company’s vision to become a leading global investment bank through aggressive investment overseas.

Market observers said Park’s decision may also have been prompted by the regulatory probe into the financial group on suspicions of business tunneling. Mirae Asset Daewoo, the country’s unrivaled No. 1 investment house by equity and profit, has been under government pressure to streamline its governance structure.

By Shin Heon-cheol and Kim Hyo-jin

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