Two years ago, Citigroup Asset Management launched an offshore principal-guaranteed fund for the Korean retail market, distributed through its consumer bank affiliate. It was the first such product in that market - and the last, because the regulators stopped approving these structures on the grounds that retail investors shouldn't be paying such high fees to an asset manager to hold a portfolio of zero-coupon bonds.
That fund matures in 2004, and with that deadline in mind, Citigroup Asset Management is keen to take stock of the Korean market. We need a new strategy for Korea, says Hong Kong-based Mabel Chan, head of retail sales for Asia, who joined the firm in May 2002...
