**Mirae Asset Lowers to 0.0068% – Samsung Asset Responds with Immediate Fee Cut**
Amidst the domestic exchange-traded fund (ETF) market reaching a scale of over 180 trillion won, a fierce competition to reduce fees has emerged among the industry’s top companies. After Mirae Asset Management, the second largest in market share, dramatically lowered its ETF fees, the top-ranking Samsung Asset Management responded within a day.
On the 7th, Samsung Asset Management announced that it would lower the total costs (including management fees and other operating expenses) for two U.S. index-tracking ETFs—’KODEX U.S. S&P500′ and ‘KODEX U.S. NASDAQ100’—from 0.0099% to 0.0062%. This came in response to Mirae Asset reducing the total costs for ‘TIGER U.S. S&P500’ and ‘TIGER U.S. NASDAQ100’ from 0.07% to a tenth of that at 0.0068% the previous day.
The two asset management firms are engaged in a high-stakes battle for leadership in the ETF market. Samsung Asset Management’s ETF market share, which was over 50% until the end of 2020, has now fallen to 38.1%. Mirae Asset’s market share is at 35.6%, leaving only a 2.5 percentage point gap between the two companies. Industry watchers expect Mirae Asset to further lower its total costs soon.
Seo Yoo-seok, the chairman of the Korea Financial Investment Association, expressed concerns, stating, “If excessive fee-cut competitions make it difficult for newcomers to enter the market, market diversity could be compromised.”